


New, Dysfunctional, Troubled Families

by JemmyMads



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, But I'm not sorry, Fluff, Gen, High School, I think i modeled will like dante, Jason is trying to keep shit cool, M/M, Nico is confused half the time, No Demigods, Percy really enjoys messing with everyone, Will likes doing illegal shit, Will wants to help, Will's a cutie, also maybe???, and he low key hates shoes, he's an adrenaline junkie, maybe???, nico's unhappy, thats probably why i like writing them, tw, will has an ongoing war against rules
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-10-15 01:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10547754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemmyMads/pseuds/JemmyMads
Summary: Nico didn't need saving, he needed his dead mother and sister back. Instead he got goddamn Will Solace with his loud mouth, energetic tendencies, and just generally being a fucking good person. Along with Will came Percy Jackson, dog enthusiast and school's local skater boy, and Jason Grace, the Junior Class President who was praying that the other three wouldn't screw up his next campaign.Nico's literal nightmare.Or Nico is maybe depressed but doesn't need(want) help, Will comes at the right time, Percy has a really cute dog, and Jason wants to keep them all alive and preferably not in jail.





	1. Nico, Will,  and an ice cream parlor

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Everyone!
> 
> Just really felt like writing today, hope you like it, I will update hopefully regularly.
> 
> This first chapter has a trigger warning for attempted suicide, its not graphic, but please don't read if you think it will trigger you
> 
> Hope you like it!

He watched the churning water with little interest. It was so close; right there. One step forward and all this pain would be gone. So why couldn’t he do it.

Coward

Oh. That’s why. He'd prove them wrong, He'd prove himself wrong. One step forward and he would see his mom again. He could see his sister again. For days, no wait, months, he had been wanting this. he didn’t want to wake up to a home devoid of love anymore. 

Sure there was some love, between his step-mom and cursed dad. Some love towards his half-siblings, who were adorable and basically the only reason he had lasted so long. 

So long. 

God It had been so long. So long since the last time he smiled. So long since the last time he laughed, felt happiness at all really. So long since he had cared, or finished a proper meal, or slept for more than 2 hours at a time. 

So fucking long. 

So long since he had seen his sister. His amazing sister. She held him during bad nights and teased him on good days. Tutored him when his grades struggled and listened when his heart struggled. Even longer since he had seen his mom, who talked to him in Italian so that no one understood what she said. Who painted the sunset and wrote about doing the impossible. Impossible was a word she never cared for, because according to her, nothing was impossible. And yet jumping seemed a little impossible to him right about now. Well he would prove that wrong.

With trembling hands he lowered myself off of the guardrail and onto a small ledge. He closed his eyes and started to lean forward.

“Wait!”

He was yanked harshly backwards, then hefted up and onto the bridge once again, tumbling to the ground from the momentum. His "hero" also stumbled backwards, hitting the ground with a small yelp of surprise. His brain wasn’t comprehending anything. He heard someone talking to him, or maybe to themselves, but none of their words would register in his brain. He had been so close. 

So close.

“So close.” he muttered, burrowing his face into his hands, ignoring the sting that was sent down his arms from where his hands had been cut up.

“So close.” Someone echoed him. His head snapped up in surprise. His savior was staring at him with wide, innocent, naive, blue eyes. Filled with concern. His breaths were ragged and he was holding his elbow carefully, blood trickling between his fingers. They stared at each other for a long time. The other's breathing steadily becoming calmer, his own racing heart settling down. Finally the stranger broke the silence.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No” He replied, not bothering to elaborate for him. “Who the hell are you.”

This town was small, annoyingly so. Everyone knew everyone and everyone knew everyone’s business. He had never seen this kid before in his life.

He smiled sheepishly, “I just moved here from LA, I was running down to the market to get some things for my mom when I saw you.”

He noticed his car, still running, parked close to the center of the bridge, a good 100 yard sprint to reach where he had almost…

He pointed at the kid, “I meant what’s your name and also,” he moved his arm so he was pointing to the car instead, “that’s illegal.”

He chuckled, “Right, sorry. My name’s Will Solace. And uh, I know, I just sorta panicked and parked the second I realized…” He trailed off. “What’s your name.”

He studied Will. He sat cross-legged underneath a street lamp, the light giving him a sorta halo. Fitting, he thought dryliy to himself. His blonde hair was left messy, unruly, and curly, some strands falling loosely into his face, though Will didn't seem bothered by it. Aforementioned blue eyes were piercing, almost unrealistically blue, the kind of blue you only read about, but never believe that you will ever discover yourself. Will had tan skin, probably from living in Southern California, and freckles dotted his nose and cheeks, only a few, but enough to give him an almost childish look.

Altogether he looked harmless. 

“Nico di Angelo.”

Will grinned, “Well, Nico di Angelo, how would you like to join me for some ice cream?” Nico opened his mouth to refuse when he cut him off, “Nope, no choice for you, you’re gonna join me for some ice cream.”

He stood up, dusted off his legs, and walked towards Nico, reaching a hand out to help him up. He chose to ignore the gesture and stood up on his own, huffing in annoyance. Will laughed again and grabbed Nico's upper arm, dragging him over to his illegally parked car. Nico glared at him as he pushed him to the passenger door, before turning and going to the other side of the car and hopping in. 

When Will noticed Nico hadn’t opened the door yet, he raised one eyebrow and gave him a fixed stare. He relented and joined him in the car.

“Stubborn motherfucker.” Nico said. Will nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes that is one of my many nicknames, along with obdurate mom banger and intractable mother screwing whore.”

Nico scoffed at that and looked over at him, he had a first aid kit on his legs and was taping a piece of gauze over his still bleeding elbow. Will forcefully took Nico's hands and wiped them down with hydrogen peroxide and applied Strawberry Shortcake band aids where needed, ignoring his protests. When he was satisfied with his work, he added a bandaid to Nico's cheek for the hell of it, putting a matching one on his own cheek, smiling impishly at Nico. Nico maintained a blank expression. Will shrugged and put it away, starting up the car and pulling back on to the road, chattering mindlessly.

“My parents just went through this god awful divorce, they didn’t end on good terms, so my mom packed us up and decided this was the least threatening place on the West Coast. So far it’s been fine, sorta boring, but still fine for the most part. I also just started volunteering at the hospital, you couldn’t do that in- Oh my god I love this song!” He turned up the radio a little, singing along to some underground band Nico had never heard before. His voice was nothing to be proud of, sure when he was talking it was soft and energetic at the same time, but he should never take up a career as a musician. 

They were parking outside of the ice cream parlor as the song ended. Will took a deep breath, belted the last note, then turned off the car. Nico rolled his eyes at the blond and hopped out of the car. Will followed suit and basically skipped into the store, grabbing his arm again and dragging him in behind him. They ordered from a senior at Nico's school, Annabeth, who did not hide the way she stared. Yeah Nico would be surprised too, if he saw the grumpiest and quietest kid in school come into an ice cream parlor with the human equivalent to sunshine. Yeah, she had reason to stare. 

Will got double scoop, 

Nico got single. 

He paid. 

Nico said nothing. 

They sat down with their ice cream in a small booth.

“So Nico, tell me about yourself.” He said, taking a huge bite from his ice cream. He got his in a cup, who does that, the monster.

“Not much to me.” Nico replied, not looking at him.

Will snorted.

“Oh cut the crap, I don’t mean a whole life story or anything, I just mean favorite color, comfort food, you know stuff like that!” He gestured wildly with his spoon, sending some melted ice cream off and onto the table, right next to Nico's hand. Nico stared at it for a second, before sliding his hand away from it. He pointed to it.

“Not polite of you.” Will made a face, “My favorite color is black, obviously. Comfort food is mac and cheese with ketchup.” Nico looked up to see his reaction. He looked thoughtful.

“I understand the mac and cheese part, but with ketchup! Gross. That’s like eating tangerines with mayo. Oh or like drinking a blended pizza and banana smoothie.”

“Which are both also very delicious.”

Will looked utterly horrified. 

Nico felt the foreign longing to laugh.

Will moved on, “You can’t be serious about that. My favorite color is yellow, or blue, or green. I don’t know, I feel bad picking only one, you know it just feels like I’m gonna hurt the other color’s feelings, or like maybe I'm betraying the ones I'm not picking. I'm also just pretty indecisive in general so yeah. Comfort food is probably mashed potatoes. My dad used to make them.”

Nico nodded and picked up on when he looked distant, almost upset or hurt, when he mentioned his dad. He made a mental note to himself on that.

“Anyway, how old are, where do you go to school.” He questioned again, taking another bite of his ice cream.

“I’m 15, almost 16, sophomore at the local high school.”

“I’m 15 too! I’m starting at the school on Monday as a sophomore.” Will said happily. “Well at least now I know someone.”

“We cannot be friends at school.” Nico replied to that, his own voice sounding borderline horrified.

Will looked pretty hurt hurt by that, eyebrows furrowing, head tilting, nose scrunching up, pouting slightly, “Why not?”

“Because, I don’t do the whole ‘friends’ thing. Being seen with me is like a death wish for you, I promise.”

Will looked at him with his wide eyes. Those damn eyes. “Who cares, you are officially stuck with me, whether you like it or not.” he lamented and crossed his arms, fixing Nico with another stubborn stare. Nico held it, not usually one for much eye contact, but in a glaring contest he would always win.

And sure enough Will broke, grinning of course, but he still broke, “Just because you won doesn’t mean I’m not gonna be your friend.”

“If this is because you feel sorry for me or som-”

Will cut Nico off with an indignant scoff, “Idiot, moron, dummy. No I don’t feel sorry for you. I’m a little shaken up, I mean who wouldn’t be, but I do not feel sorry for you. You have your reasons of which you aren’t willing to share, but they’re reasons none the less. I want to be your friend. That’s all there is to it.”

Nico stared at Will in shock. He was whistling while playing a game on his phone. Not caring. God if he could be him… not care about anything. What a life.

He stopped whistling abruptly, “Oh god look at the time, were we really here for an hour?”

Nico had no clue.

“Nevermind, I need to get home like right now. Ever since this one night when my dad-” He stopped himself abruptly, cheeks flushing slightly and eyes falling to his feet before looking at Nico again, “Doesn’t matter, but my mom has been super strict about not staying out past curfew.”

He stood up and started walking out of the store.

So ended Nico's mysterious adventures with Will Solace.

...

Ha, he wished.

Right when Nico thought he was going to get some quiet time, Will marched back over to the table, grabbed his hand and spinning him around once with a flourish, then lead him outside to his car once again. They listened to the radio again, only songs that Nico had never heard of with thumping basses and raspy voices. He rolled down the windows and sang to his heart’s desire. Occasionally he would point to Nico to sing a verse or chorus, the one time he did it Will cheered with both hands off the wheel, effectively giving Nico a semi heart attack. But the smile that came with it was worth it, it was refreshing to see someone so happy.

When they reached the residential neighborhoods, he quieted down so Nico could give him directions. He followed them dutifully, pointing out his house to Nico. All lights were off except one in the living room, where a woman no older than 40 was quietly reading a book on a seat. Will slowed.

“That’s my mom. We don’t look that much alike, I sometimes wonder if I’m adopted. Which seems sorta crazy because I clearly got some features from my mom but still, we don’t even act the same, you know? Like she worries, waaaaaay to much. She spends basically every waking moment worrying. It’s hard watching someone so close to you waste away their life being anxious about everything. Its hard to watch her live a life that shouldn't count as actually living.”

He looked at Nico, than blushed a bright red, “Sorry, enough of my sob story, I've overshared tonight anyway. we’re here.”

Nico hadn’t realized they were in front of his house. He didn’t want to go in there, but he knew he had to. Nico turned to Will, wanting to thank him a thousand times over. Wanting to curse him out a million times over. But he didn’t, because he didn’t want this obdurate mom banger in his life. Because he wasn’t ready for that. So he settled with a quick and muttered “See ya” before exiting his car and walking across his front lawn to the storm pipe that ran along the side of his house. 

Nico climbed it quickly, having experience, and halfway through climbing through his window, he stopped and looked down at the street. Will was staring up at him, and when he caught his eye, he smiled. Nico made a shooing gesture with his hand, to which he replied with a mock salute before making a quick, illegal, U-turn, and started back to his house.

Nico fell from the window on to his bed, his mind buzzing, heart thumping.

Who was this boy. 

What was this foreign feeling. 

Why was he here. 

Why. 

What. 

How.

Nico couldn’t process any of it.

He had gotten in the way. That was one thing he was sure of. He had gotten in the way, and now Nico had no idea if he would have the strength to try again; and that scared him. 

God did that scare him. 

He didn’t want to stay here, this place was cursed to only ever harm him. Ever since he had lived here, only bad things have happened to him.

He wouldn’t get to him. He wouldn’t break down his carefully structured walls. Will Solace would not be apart of his life.


	2. Will and Nico, a lost dog, and the Junior Class President

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I had this chapter already written, which is basically the only reason for the quick update.
> 
> The next update will most likely be Friday, but possibly tomorrow if I can manage
> 
> Also, I originally wrote this for a Bellarke fanfic, but changed it to Solangelo because the idea worked much better with these two.
> 
> So if anywhere in these first two chapters Nico ever thinks anything in first person POV and if Will is ever described as a girl that's why.
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway Enjoy :)

Or at least, Nico went to bed with those thoughts. He woke up with the same resolve, and went downstairs to make some breakfast. He was surprised to see that it was only 7 in the morning. Nico had gotten less than 2 hours of sleep again.

With a sigh, he put some bread in the toaster and quickly went into the bathroom.

Nico had never liked looking in the mirror, it was too depressing. His once light brown eyes had darkened and hardened over the years. His obsidian black hair was left untended most days, shaggy and overgrown. The worst were the bags under his eyes, though. The shadows left behind as a reminder of his sleepless nightstand restless days. They stood out prominently against his pale skin.

He shook the thoughts from his head and went back out into the kitchen.

The toaster popped.

His step siblings came barreling down the stairs, sliding to a stop at the counter, hopping on to the chairs and giving Nico identical expressions of evil. The pair of them were twins, fraternal.

Hazel, sat on the left, had caramel skin, brown hair that was curly beyond belief, and golden eyes eyes.

Cecil, sat on the right, had lighter skin, darker hair, and light brown eyes that more often than not shined with mischief.

Nico put down a piece of toast in front of both of them, sliding the strawberry jam to Hazel and the honey to Cecil.

“So Nico… you were out pretty late last night.” Hazel said with a smirk, using the butter knife to spread a heap of jam over her toast.

“Was there someone you were with? A _girl_ perhaps?” Cecil gave Nico one of his signature sly smiles. Nico raised an eyebrow at the pair.

“Who wants to know?”

They leaned together and gave him puppy eyes. “Your adorable younger siblings.”

The older shook his head at them, “I went for a walk, didn’t have my phone with me and lost track of time. Door was locked when I came home.”

Cecil took an obnoxiously loud bite of his toast.

Hazel continued the interrogation, “There were headlights.”

“We live in a neighborhood, there are always headlights.”

“They stopped in front of the house.”

“Someone probably got lost.”

“They did a U turn and drove away.”

“Got the directions, most likely.”

“God you’re the most boring brother in the world!” Hazel cried dramatically, letting her head hit her hands on the counter. Cecil patted her back comfortingly, while stealing her toast with the other hand.

Two honks sounded from outside. Hazel’s head shot up. Cecil shoved the stolen piece of toast in his mouth before jumped from his chair and running to the window. He peered out.

“Who’s there?” Hazel called to her twin.

“A boy! Blond hair, he’s just sitting in his car singing.” Cecil replied. He turned around with a confused expression, then caught sight of Nico's undoubtedly slightly panicked face. His mouth fell open. “This boy-”

Nico cut him off with a harsh glare. Hazel still hadn’t connected the dots and was busy looking for her missing breakfast. Cecil came over to his older brother.

“Who is he Nico?” He asked quietly. Nico gave him a harsh look.

“No one important. I’ll be back soon. Not a word of this to the others, understand.”

Cecil narrowed his eyes, but like the overly loyal sibling that he is, he nodded and started to distract Hazel, giving Nico a chance to sneak out the side door.

Will was singing along, eyes closed and in the moment. He sang into his phone like a microphone, swaying his shoulders and pressing one finger to his ear. Once the song finished he opened his eyes and grinned at Nico, “Hop in.”

 

They drove down the street, stopping at a lemonade stand and buying one of everything they had, per Will's insistence. The girls were a few years younger than Hazel and Cecil, who were each 10, and had come over to play with the twins a couple of times. They looked quite surprised to see him, and giggled loudly when Will pestered Nico into saying thanks to them.

Further down and a couple of blocks away, Will noticed a dog on the side of the road. He dutifully parked illegally again, despite there being a _legal_ parking spot a few feet away, and ran over to find its owner.

Nico dutifully trudged behind him, grumbling when the dog licked his hand.

The dog was a golden retriever puppy and was, for lack of better word, adorable. Will and Nico played with it for a full hour before actually trying to find who it belonged to.

Will wanted to go door to door and ask everybody, but after Nico explained the _many_ dangers of knocking on a stranger’s door, he agreed that it would be a better idea to look around for flyers about lost dogs.

About three blocks down a boy their age was hanging up a flyer. Will perked up when he saw him and rushed over, puppy flying alongside. Nico followed slower, glaring after the pair, and at the newcomer.

“Hi! Is this your dog?” Will asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The puppy sat down at his side. The boy turned around and gave Will a side grin.

“Who’s askin’?” Then he caught sight of his dog. And he gave an actual smile. “OH! You actually found him! I thought… well I don’t know exactly what I thought but I didn’t think you were serious.”

The boy crouched down and called his dog over, “Mace! C’mere Mace.” The golden retriever happily complied and started licking his owner’s face.

Nico edged forward slightly until he was standing beside Will, their shoulders just brushing. Will had that brilliant grin again as he watched the reunion.

The boy straightened again.

“I’m sorry, he’s one of my best friend's but she’s away for a little and I’ve been watching lil’ Mace here. Someone left their side gate open and well, here we are.”

“Eh don’t worry about it. That has to be the _sweetest_ puppy ever!” Will replied cheerfully, purposely bumping their shoulders together.

“I’m Percy, by the way, I don't think we've ever met.” He extended a hand.

Will took it and shook, “I’m Will.” He wrapped an arm around Nico, which he shrugged off indifferently, his glare towards Percy not wavering in the slightest. “And this is Nico, the little ray of darkness.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I think it’s very fitting. You’re not exactly a sunshine person.”

Nico glared, “Come up with a better nickname.”

“Don’t insult my abilities!”

Percy cut in, “Um thanks Will but I know Nico, we have Biology together this year.”

Will looked between the two of them with a confused expression before understanding dawned on his face, “I keep forgetting that you know everyone! _I’m_ the new one here.”

Percy and Will laughed together, Nico glowered at them.

Percy noticed.

“Well it was nice meeting you Will, and good seeing you Nico. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Percy walked away with Mace trotting at his side. He turned to them again, "If you guys ever want to play with Mace, just let me know."

"Will do." Will called after them.

Will smiled at their retreating forms, before swirling around and beginning to walk back to the illegally parked car. Nico walked next to him when he realized something.

“How can you drive?”

“Huh?” Will turned to him with furrowed eyebrows.

“You’re not 16, how are you able to drive?”

“Oh! I’m not.”

“What!”

“Well I have my permit, I’m just not technically supposed to be driving around with someone other than family, but I’ll make an exception with you.” He said, nudging their shoulders together again in a playful way.

They turned down the block where his car was parked and Nico decided to nicely point out that he had parked illegally again, he just nodded with a grin on his face.

 

Two hours later and the pair was at the small corner store, picking up snacks for lunch. Will had been talking nonstop about almost everything, occasionally needing Nico to ask questions to keep him talking. It was interesting, for Nico, to see how easily Will dismissed or talked around certain subjects.

He never talked about his dad, that topic was entirely off limits. He didn't talk much about his mom either, but occasionally he would complain about some stupid rule she had.

Which was another thing Nico noticed about Will; he did  _not_ follow the rules. Well, he followed the rules, but  _only_ if Will himself had made them.

It was the reason he got in trouble with his mom so much.

It was the reason he parked illegally over half the time.

It was the reason he was  _Will._

Even now, standing in the small market, Will had torn off the price tags for three items and stuffed them in his bag. Nico had, of course, protested slightly, but only so he could put his own conscience to rest.

"Will that's a really bad idea."

"Oh shush, I won't get caught. And to make up for it I'll leave a big tip." Will responded with a dismissive hand. Nico sighed, not really caring either way.

Will was looking through the drinks when he caught sight of the slushy machines.

He slowly turned to Nico with bright eyes and a blinding smile.

"No."

"Nico please."

"No.  _No_."

"Oh c'mon Nico, they're so good."

"Will no."

"Don't you wanna taste the mango-y goodness. Slurp up the cherry sweetness."

"Ok, Will I really don't think you're hearing what you're saying now."

"Suck on the coconut bliss."

"Will seriously, you need to shut up."

"Ride out the high, drinking it all up."

"You just made this way more sexual than it had to be and I don't think you even realized you did it."

Will cackled loudly, before starting to sing quietly, "Freeze your brain~"

Nico shook his head, but watched as Will put his hands on his hips, rolling them around enticingly.

"Suck on that straw, get lost in the pain~"

At that point, Will was now dancing between the aisles and Nico wanted to look away, but found that he just  _couldn't_.

"Happiness comes, when everything numbs. Who needs cocaine~"

Nico chuckled quietly as Will's voice became increasingly louder until he was almost shouting out the song.

"Just freeze your brain~"

Nico applauded him as Will bowed to the cashier and to Nico.

They went to the counter, only paying for two items, their drinks that Will  _couldn't actually steal_ or else he would've definitely tried. The other 5 things they picked out, Will had stuffed in his backpack beneath his jacket and a book that Nico hadn't caught the name of.

True to his word, Will left a 5 dollar tip, which the cashier had grinned happily about. Right as they were getting the receipt, the bell above the door jingled, signaling someone entering the store.

Nico turned and caught sight of a familiar flash of blond hair.

"Oh shit." He muttered, trying to pull Will away quick so that he wouldn't see...

"Oh Nico! Hey!" Jason called out, walking over to the pair, "Who's this?"

"I'm Will Solace, I just moved here a few days ago and Nico has been my helpful pessimist that has brooded over not being able to binge Netflix since I'm making him interact with others." Will supplied helpfully, drawing a warm chuckle from Jason and an exasperated groan from Nico

"Will this is Jason, the Junior Class President. Jason this is Will, the pain in my ass." Nico introduced the two.

Jason had always been nice to Nico, when they were little they were  _friends_. But then Jason became increasingly popular and Nico lost the two most important people to him and things just, well, they just feel apart between the two.

Jason still went out of his way to say hi to Nico, always offering for him to sit at his lunch table. Always offering to give him a ride home from school. Always offering to watch his siblings with him when his parents were out for the night or gone for the weekend.

Nico knew Jason, hell, Nico  _liked_ Jason, but Jason had this thing. Jason had this thing where he was able to read a person as easily as a children's book. He was good with words, to the point that Nico never knew if Jason's words were actually genuine or just manipulative.

So Nico had learned to not trust him entirely. 

"Well I was just in here to get some gum, what are you guys up to?"

"We're going on a picnic." Will replied cheerily.

"We're  _what_?"

"Going on a picnic."

"I never agreed to that."

"You didn't have to, I made an executive decision."

"That's not how it works, Will."

"It is now."

Jason was watching the two, clearly amused at the interaction, "Well have fun you two."

Will stopped him from turning away from them by grabbing at his wrist, "Wait! Come with us!"

" _What!_ "

"Oh shut up Nico. Jason, come with us, it'll be fun."

Jason looked between the two of the, then down to Will's hand, which was still wrapped around his wrist. His hand was not actually big enough to entirely wrap around Jason's wrist because, to put it delicately, Jason was  _huge_.

"I don't know Will, I think I'll let you guys have your alone time. We'll have a picnic together another day, I promise." Jason said, smiling gently down at Will.

Will sighed but nodded, letting go of his wrist. "It was nice o meet you Jason, we'll see you around."

"Nice to meet you too Will, and nice to see you Nico."

Nico did a swift nod in Jason's direction, but refused to acknowledge him properly.

The pair turned and left the store together, walking to Will's car that was parked, surprise surprise, illegally.

"How do you never get tickets."

"The police are scared of me." Will said it with such a straight face that Nico almost believed him except...

"No one is scared of you, Will. You're a literal ball of fluff."

Will laughed at that, looking over to Nico with mirth in his eyes, "If I'm fluff, then you are a snuggly teddy bear."

Nico scoffed indignantly, "Um are you blind? I just scared away Jason and Percy and you're calling me a fucking  _teddy bear_?"

Will reached forward and pinched Nico's cheeks softly, "A snuggly, cuddly teddy bear who needs a little love."

Nico batted his hands away and huffed, jumping into the passenger seat of the car, "Just drive you asshole,"

"Oh babe, I love the sweet nicknames you give me."

 

It was late when they decided to head home from their picnic spot, a small clearing by the local park where they could watch everyone, but unless you really looked, you couldn't see them.

Nico hopped out of Will's car, walking to the driver side and making Will roll down the window.

"Um thanks. I guess."

Will grinned, "No problemo Neeks. Uh, just like full disclosure, can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"Ok, well, um." Will seemed nervous, something that didn't fit him well. Nico hesitantly placed his hand on top of Will's urging him to continue. "Ok I'm pan."

Nico stopped, "You're a pan?"

"No. No no I'm pan. As in I'm pansexual."

"Oh."  _oh._

"This doesn't change anything right?"

"What? No! Of course not! You're still my pain in the ass."

Will looked relieved. "Ok good, sorry to just spring that on you I just thought, well its like some people, its just some people aren't really comfortable with it so I thought before I got too attached to you you should have full disclosure about what you're getting involved in."

"Will."

"Yeah?"

"You're babbling."

"Sorry, nervous habit."

"I'll see ya tomorrow."

"Yeah tomorrow. Shit tomorrow. Nico  _tomorrow_."

"You'll be ok Will, I'll be with you."

"Yeah ok."

"Bye Will."

"Hm? Oh, bye Nico."

Nico walked across his lawn, could see his family in the living room playing a board game, Cecil obviously cheering loudly at something while Hazel giggled. Nico went to the front door, before changing his mind and climbing up his rain pipe again.

As last night, he turned and shooed Will away.

As last night, Will gave a mock salute and drove away.

Different from last night, Nico made a resolution to let Will in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it!
> 
> The song Will sings is from the musical Heathers, by the way. I did not write it so little disclaimer for that. 
> 
> If you liked it its on Spotify and Youtube, its called Freeze Your Brain and its really good.
> 
> Anyway, all authors appreciate comments and kudos but like, no pressure or anything :)


	3. School is Horrible, but surprisingly ok

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> As promised, here's the next chapter. I had it done last night but I was too lazy to update, sorry bout that.
> 
> Anyway enjoy the relative normalness before the plot really starts ;)

Nico’s pleasant dreaming was cut off suddenly by the obnoxious and loud sound of sirens, which were cut off suddenly, being replaced by the lyrics to a song he didn’t remember setting as his alarm.

 He groaned and rolled over, reaching blindly for his phone to just _shut off that fucking_ -

 His hand hit his water glass that was on his night table. The glass went tumbling to the ground, the sound of shattering glass briefly covered up the god awful song coming from his phone.

 Nico winced before opening his eyes and slowly looking over the side of his bed to the mess of water and broken glass that now covered part of his floor.

 That was enough motivation to both get Nico up and make him want to bury himself beneath his comforters and never have to face the day.

 Yeah, the latter seemed more enjoyable to him right now.

 Unfortunately, to be able to comfortably sleep the day away and ignore the outside world forever, Nico would have to successfully shut off his alarm, which was still filling his room with lyrics that spoke of “lip locking” and “making the neighbors scream.”

 Not that nice of a song in Nico’s opinion.

 He finally got a hold of his phone a turned off the noise, then decided to, albeit reluctantly, really check the time and

 Oh _fucking shit._ ”

 Nico had to be at school in 15 minutes. Usually, Nico wouldn’t give a flying fuck about actually getting to his first period on time, but he had promised Will.

 And, true, Nico was still rather iffy about the blond as he’d only known him for two days, but Nico was a curious person, and Will was another mystery for him to piece together and take apart.

 So Nico got ready, making sure to check that Cecil and Hazel were up and also ready, before making breakfast for the three of them. They ate in somewhat silence, broken occasionally by Cecil poking fun at Hazel and Hazel firing a comeback to him without missing a beat.

 The siblings left together, walking down together for two blocks before Nico veered left and they continued straight.

 The pair called out goodbyes to Nico before taking off down the side block, racing each other to their friend’s house.

 Nico allowed himself a small smile before bracing himself as his feet brought him closer to school.

  _Is it too late to turn now and jus-_

 His thoughts were cut off abruptly by a car honking and stopping in the middle of the street. Nico looked over, only a little surprised to see familiar blond curls.

 “Need a lift teddy bear?” Will asked with a smirk, disregarding the growing line of cars behind him. “Hop in.”

 Nico didn’t bother protesting, just jumped into the back seat. He intended to climb into the passenger seat once they were driving again, but stopped short when he saw none other than _Percy_ sitting in there, going through his backpack in search of something.

 Will turned to look at him, “You know if you want I can give you a ride everyday, I wouldn’t mind.”

 A car honked behind them and with a small jolt, Nico realized that Will hadn’t started driving again.

 “Will that’s great and everything but I think the person behind us is getting impatient.”

 Will continued talking as if Nico hadn’t said anything, “Y’know I totally would too, Percy already agreed to let me drive him.”

 Percy turned around too, “By agreed he means pestered me, complimented me, and almost drove us into a stop sign to get me too agree.”

 More cars were honking now, he even heard some people cursing them out.

 Will smiled, “Details, details. So anyway, what do you say.”

 “I’ll agree if it means you start driving now and avoid an angry driver coming and giving us shit.”

 Percy snorted.

 Will rolled his eyes, “Yeah those anxious assholes can go fuck themselves.”

 “Will, stopping in the middle of the street is both illegal and obnoxious.” Percy said, though he was grinning good naturedly.

 Will scoffed but started driving anyway, sticking his arm out the window and flipping everyone behind them off. Percy laughed and rolled down his own window, joining Will in angering the drivers. Nico looked between the pair, who both looked elated, like they were on top of the fucking world.

 The Italian smirked, rolling down his window too. Instead of just sticking out his middle finger, Nico hoisted himself up so he was halfway out of the car, raising both hands, he flipped off the cars that hopefully included students that he absolutely detested.

 He heard Will and Percy whooping and hollering, he felt a warm hand grab one of his ankles and a slightly calloused hand grab his other. But this was all in the background, Nico not truly registering it because of his sudden adrenaline rush.

 Eventually, after about 30 seconds really, Nico slid back into the car, feeling _good_.

 Percy and Will both applauded him, Will taking both hands off the wheel to do so. Percy let out a strangled yelp and reached across the grab the steering wheel as Will turned around to address Nico.

 “Wasn’t that nice? Just not giving a shit about them?”

 Nico stammered out what could be considered an answer, not liking the sudden attention, but it was mostly drowned out by Percy’s cursing as he tried to keep them from crashing into anything.

 “So, how’s your morning been?” Will asked, placing his chin on his hand and smiling widely at Nico.

 “Will!”

 “Oh chill out Percy, I trust you not to kill us.”

 “Yeah not your smartest idea Solace.”

 Will winked at Nico before turning back around, batting Percy’s hands away from the wheel and regaining control saying, “Careful Perce, you’re swerving everywhere.”

 Though a few seconds later he turned to look at Nico again. Opening his mouth to say something when Percy cried out, “Will _turn_!”

 Will cursed and swerved the car suddenly, sending Nico flying to the opposite side of the car and causing Percy to hit his head against the window.

 The car was silent as the blond parked the car. Will grinned at his passengers.

 “Well, wasn’t that fun?”

 “Fucking hell Solace.”

 “Will we literally almost died.”

 Will decided to respond to Nico, ignoring Percy’s comment completely, “I know! All before our first class too, isn’t that great?”

 “You’re insane.”

 “Yes. But am I?”

 Percy scoffed loudly, ruffling Will’s hair and hopping from the car, “I’ll see you guys later. Lunch together?”

 “Sounds great!”

 “No.”

 Will and Nico replied. Percy was in his junior year, 11th grade, with Jason, but had to take bio with the sophomores because he had skipped it. The idiot had accidently marked on a sheet that he had already taken it when he hadn’t and was now stuck taking it this year.

 Will looked towards Nico, “You ready?”

 Nico shook his head in a _hell no I’m not ready_ manner. They entered the school together.

 

 

Turned out, they only had a few classes together. Will had taken almost all honors, besides biology and Algebra 2. Which was coincidentally the two classes he had with Nico.

 The lucky bastard also didn’t have to take any form of gym because he had finished his requirements at his old school.

 Nico walked him to his first class, and gave him directions to his second class, which Nico would be right down the hall from.

 Will thanked him multiple times before giving a confident smile and thumbs up, entering the class with grace, until Nico watched him run into another student and promptly after which he turned into a stuttering, blushing mess.

 Nico left him there, walking towards his first period with long strides, trying to make sure no one stopped to talk to him. Of course there was one person that stopped him anyway.

 “Goodmorning Nico.” Jason said cheerfully, matching Nico’s quick pace.

 “Hello Grace, how can I help you today?”

 “Oh c’mon Nico cut the crap, we’re friends, can’t we have a conversation?”

 Nico was saved from having to answer by the bell ringing. He smirked at Jason and turned into his classroom.

 He could see Jason huffing and pushing his glasses rightfully on his nose, before turning and strolling away. Nico fell unceremoniously into his seat, mentally preparing himself for the boring lecture he knew was about to begin.

 

 

Biology came quicker than Nico thought it would. Before he really knew it, he was waiting for Will to exit his second period class and join Nico so they could walk together.

 A few kids smiled at Nico, some even greeted him, but Nico didn’t bother acknowledging any of them, most of them were shitheads anyway.

 Finally Will exited his class, all smiles and laughs, talking to a senior named Silena animatedly about… _bee pollen?_

 What the fuck.

 Will spotted Nico and said goodbye to her, bounding over to Nico with a grin, “I made a friend!”

 “Congrats.” Nico deadpanned.

 “You can at least pretend to be happy for me.”

 “Congratu-fucking-lations William.”

 Will rolled his eyes but caught the hint, changing the subject easily, “What’s biology like?”

 “Easy. The teacher is a fucktard that rarely shows up to class and the subs usually let us do as we wish.”

 “And Perce is in this class right?”

 “Nope.” Nico replied, popping the “p” exaggeratedly.

 They both knew Percy was in the class.

 Nico glanced at Will, only then noticing that Will was carrying his scuffed up tennis shoes and not actually wearing them.

 Will noticed his look, “They’re unnecessary.”

 “They’re pretty damn necessary, Will.”

 “Only because society says so. They’re just a nuisance to me.”

 “They keep your feet safe.”

 “Yes but at what cost Nico? _At what cost._ ”

 Nico was opening his mouth to reply when someone draped their arms around both Nico and Will.

 Percy was taller than both of them, taller than Will by two inches, and taller than Nico by five. “What’s up kiddos.”

 Nico pushed Percy’s arm off of him and tuning out of Will and Percy’s conversation, instead choosing to observe (read: analyze) his peers.

 Annabeth Chase, junior that was considered a senior because she wasn’t actually taking any high school classes anymore instead all were college courses, was gesticulating wildly while talking to Lou Ellen. She was on track to graduate this year. Annabeth had dated Percy until halfway through last year when Percy came out as bi, saying he had repressed feelings for someone. Annabeth had understood and as far as Nico knew, the pair were still great friends.

 Lou Ellen was different. Different from everyone in the entire school because of her ability to absolutely _not give a shit_. Sure, some other kids were laid back and easy going, but Lou Ellen didn’t let anything bother her, and it was always something Nico had admired about her. Lou had also once had a heated argument with Nico that ended with the two of them in the principal’s office because they were a “disturbance”

 Nico was so deep in his thoughts, he failed to notice the student standing in the hallway who was playing a game on his phone, not noticing Nico either. Nico collided right into his side,sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

 “What the fuck?” The other yelled out, still entangled with Nico and his stuff on the ground. Nico was suddenly being lifted up and _away_ by Percy and WIll, who both kep their hands on Nico’s shoulders even after he was steady.

 Bryce stood up with an angry expression on his face, “You little motherfucker, watch where you’re going next time.”

 Nico took a step forward.

 “Nico please.”

 “Neeks don’t do this.”

 Percy and Will both tried to stop him.

 “Next time don’t stand in the middle of the hallway dickhead.”

 Bryce met Nico in the middle, the two staring each other down. Nico was faintly aware of the murmuring around them, the way the students naturally gave the pair a wide berth, how despite that fact, neither Will nor Percy had backed up, standing instead loyally a few feet behind Nico.

 The loud shrill of the bell broke the stare down, and the students dispersed with excited chattering.

 Nico was dragged away by Percy as Will rushed to collect his fallen books and follow them.

 “What were you thinking di Angelo? You’ve been in enough fights this year.”

 “Oh shut it Jackson, he’s an asshole and he was in the wrong anyway.”

 “Don’t fight fire with fire.”

 “When did you become so philosophical anyways? Aren’t you the one who almost got suspended for pranking your Spanish teacher.”

 “Live and learn Nico, live and learn.”

 “What the actual fuck does that-”

 Nico was cut off, _again_ , by Will enthusiastically patting Nico on the back and congratulating Nico on his “run in with death”. Then he sobered up and seriously added,

 “Although I’d prefer you not do that again, I don’t like people being in pain, y’know?”

 It was such a simple thing to say, but it made Nico freeze. Will didn’t like seeing people in pain? He guessed it made sense, Will _did_ have a random first aid kit in his car.

 But still.

 Will seemed to like trouble, liked pissing people off. But that didn’t seem to add up in Nico’s head.

 Did Will actually like pissing people off?

 Was it some type of defense mechanism?

 Was he not actually aware he was doing it?

  _Was Will just being Will when he was pissing people off_?

 Maybe it wasn’t Will being rude at all, maybe it was everyone else not understanding him?

 Thousands of more questions like this buzzed in Nico’s head, too fast for Nico to really grasp and comprehend, but one thought stuck out and struck Nico to the core.

  _Nico didn’t know Will._

 Nico didn’t know Will at all.

 Nico didn’t even know Percy, who now seemed like a permanent accessory in Nico’s life.

 What the fuck was Nico doing?

 He was supposed to be closed off.

 He _was_ closed off.

 And yet in two days he’d let two people into his life. Unknowingly. Unwillingly. How the fuck did this happen.

 “Did they drug me?” Nico wasn’t aware he had it aloud until Will and Percy were both giving him strange looks.

 “C’mon Neeks, let’s just get to bio, I think we’re a few minutes late anyway.

  


 

Biology with Percy and Will was fun. It surprised Nico.

 This entire year he had insisted on sitting at the lab table furthest from the front and closest to the window, never interacting with his classmates and instead opting to doodle birds on his works sheets and screw with the subs by putting down celebrities’ names where his should’ve been.

 He was never bored in the class, he just never had this much fun. Will and Percy took turns trying to fly paper airplanes into the furthest trash can possible, insisting Nico decide who won each round.

 When they got bored with that, which was rather quickly since all three had ADHD (that fact made Percy cackle for a good two minutes because “what are the odds, guys.”), they created a new game of trying to flip dimes into an empty test tube.

 They only stopped playing that when a particularly hard flip resulted in Will cracking the glass.

 After that the three just sat and talked. And Nico enjoyed himself.

 Percy was laughing loudly at something Will had said when the bell rang, signalling lunch. Will tried to match the bell’s pitch, failing horribly and breaking everyone’s eardrums, which promptly made Percy fall off of his stool and lay on the floor trying to desperately stop laughing.

 His efforts were in vain though, because every time he looked at Will, his laughter came back full swing.

 Nico rolled his eyes, kicking Percy softly on the side before packing up his stuff and leaving the class.

 He was not all that surprised when Will and Percy both cried out for him, but Nico didn’t stop or slow his quick pace.

 They could be acquaintances, but now Will knew Percy, not only knew him but got along with him, so Nico no longer held a duty to make the new kid feel comfortable.

 It had never been his duty in the first place.

 Will had sorta forced himself on Nico.

 Not that Nioc really minded.

 Wait.

  _Yes_ of course Nico minded!

 Ugh, stupid attachment.

  


 

And despite this, Nico still found himself sitting under a tree with the other two in the quad. At lunch. With other people.

 Honestly did they they drug his food when he wasn’t looking?

 Nico had, naturally, protested sitting with them. He instead wanted to go to his favorite mini table that was situated in one of the school’s open air halls.

 No such luck.

 Will had absolutely _dragged_ Nico out to the spot, plopping him down beside Percy, who had already collected food for the three of them.

 “Yes! Six for six.” Will cheered as he successfully threw his sixth corn nut at Percy who caught it in his mouth with ease.

 “You know, this is basically all me, your tosses suck.” Percy crunched pointedly on a chip.

 The next minute he was bombarded with flying corn nuts, hitting him everywhere and hitting him _hard_.

 Percy attempted to bat the projectiles away, though the majority did find their target before falling to the grass.

 Will was giggling evilly, “You insult me, be prepared to face the wrath of the _fluff!_.”

 Percy snorted loudly, “Oh no! The fluff has me shaking in fear. Protect me Nico.”

 Percy threw himself across Nico’s lap, looking up at him and winking. Nico felt his face heating up and decided to look away from Percy’s sea green eyes. Gorgeous sea green eyes.

 Will wailed, “No fair! You guys can’t team up against me.”

 Nico risked looking back at Percy, who was studying him absently, ignoring the steady onslaught of flying corn nuts. He puckered his lips slightly, making a small kissy noise, to which Nico responded by scoffing and pushing him off his lap.

 Percy turned to Will as if to say something, but right as he turned, Will threw a corn nut extra hard.

 It hit Percy square in the face.

 Percy was quiet a second, looking shocked and borderline offended.

 Then he was tackling Will to the ground, where he pinned Will’s arms with ease and began to tickle him mercilessly.

 “Apologize! Apologize you dick!”

 Will was barely forming words, let alone a coherent sentence. He wheezed out laughs, “Your… fault… asshole.”

 Percy made an affronted noise, pulling away for a split second, before returning to tickling Will harder than before, if that was even possible.

 Nico leaned back on his hands, enjoying being able to steal part of Percy’s sandwich and drink some of Will’s water without them knowing.

 Someone cleared their throat behind him.

 Nico wasn’t even surprised when he saw Jason standing behind him awkwardly, obviously trying to be polite and not stare at Percy and Will.

 “Yes?”

 “I came over to say hi, talk to you guys.”

 “We’re busy, Grace.”

 “Oh yes, this looks like a very pressing matter.”

 Nico stopped himself from replying because _damn_.

 Nico had never heard Jason sass him.

 Nico had never heard Jason sass anyone.

 Nico actually believed that Jason didn’t know what sass was.

 “Oh hey Jason! Didn’t see you there!” Percy called out from behind Nico.

 “Oh Jason! Come join us!” Will said, happiness unmasked and clear in his voice.

 Jason did just that, making himself comfortable by Will’s back pack and joining Nico in watching Percy struggle to disentangle himself from Will.

 When the pair were separated and calmed down a bit, they engaged Jason in a _fascinating_ conversation about Star Wars vs Star Trek.

 Nico had seen both but kept his mouth shut and his opinion locked.

 But it didn’t take long for the other to realize Nico wasn’t talking, and suddenly Nico was faced with the attention of the entire group. He met all of their gazes one by one. Percy, Will, Jason.

 “Don’t even try it.”

 “Aw we weren’t gonna do anything.”

 “Don’t lie to me, of course you were planning something.”

 “Well nothing bad~”

 “I still stand with don’t even try it.”

 Will huffed and crossed his arms, looking at Jason for help.

 Jason studied Nico with a thoughtful expression, before giving a small nod. “If he doesn’t want to he doesn’t have too.”

 “What!”

 “Jason!”

 Percy and Will exclaimed at the same time. Nico’s attention snapped to Jason, who was still looking at Nico.

 “Thank you.”

 Percy and Will both started complaining about how unfair this was and how the group was split in half now.

 Nico didn’t listen though, too busy watching Jason. Jason who wasn’t breaking eye contact with Nico either.

 The two stared at each other. Sky blue meeting near black.

 “Wow, I could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife.”

 Percy’s comment made Will snort and spill some of his water on the ground.

 “Oh great Percy, look at what you made me do!”

 Jason and Nico both broke the eye contact in turn of turning to glare at the other two, who were now arguing about whether or not Percy, the idiot, owed Will, the dork, a new water.

 

 

 

The bell to signal the end of lunch ended their discussion. Nico and Will parted ways with the other two, walking to math together. Will kept a steady stream of words coming from his mouth, most complaining about Percy, all the way to class, probably sensing Nico wasn’t really up for talking.

 In class, Will made Nico sit near the front with him, since the class didn’t have assigned seats.

 Math was utter hell, the teacher was strict and the students were silent.

 Silent save Will, who made unnecessary comments under his breath every other second.

 Save Will, who would raise his hand every few minutes to ask a new and ridiculous question that the teacher had to answer since it wasn’t entirely off topic.

 He was the only reason Nico didn’t fall asleep.

  


 

When that class ended, Will and Nico parted ways, though Will made Nico promise to meet him after school so Will could give him a ride home.

 And after that, Nico’s day passed in a mindless blur. He endured two more numbingly boring classes, one of which being _gym_ , before the final bell rang.

 Nico took his time getting to Will’s car, walking slowly and drinking out of every drinking fountain he encountered.

 But of course the stubborn motherfucker waited for him, laying on the hood of his car so his head was dangling off the side as he talked to Percy, Silena, and Lou Ellen.

 When he caught sight of Nico, he beamed and waved, the sudden motion almost sending him toppling off the car if Percy hadn’t reached out caught him.

 Nico didn’t smile or wave back. He nodded a greeting to Silena and Lou Ellen, who both smiled in return and turned to go to Silena’s car.

 “Ready to hit it teddy bear?”

 “Ready to not kill us fluff?”

 “Hm touche.” Will replied with a gleam in his eyes. “Ok let’s go.”

 He got into the driver’s seat and started the car. Percy and Nico stared at each other, before Nico decisively moved to open the door to the back seat, leaving Percy to take the passenger side.

 Will drove surprisingly safely, only stopping in the middle of the street once, turning the car off so he could run out and pick a couple of plums off of someone’s tree.

 Nico had Will drop him off at the corner where he usually met his siblings after school. Will was obviously unhappy about it, but let him go anyway.

 He waved bye to the other two as Will drove away, his singing and Percy’s shouting that he had a horrible voice still loud enough that Nico could hear it two blocks later.

 Nico only had to wait a couple of seconds before the twins were visible, running excitedly to Nico, telling him about their amazing day.

 Nico listened with the patience of a parent, because as far as the twins were concerned, Nico was a better parent than their biological parents would ever be.

  


 

That night, Nico drowned out the sound of his dad yelling at Cecil with music as loud as it would go. Nico wasn’t sure what Cecil was in trouble about, but whatever it was, it was bad enough to have his dad storming into the house in a complete rage, making straight for Cecil’s room.

 Nico was sorta hoping his blaring music would draw his dad’s attention away from poor Cecil and onto himself instead.

 No such luck.

 About twenty minutes after the yelling had started, it stopped.

 Another ten minutes later, Cecil was knocking on Nico’s door, silently crying and obviously needing comfort.

 Nico lead Cecil to his bed, taking care to make sure they didn’t get close to the mess of water and glass still on Nico’s ground.

 Cecil didn’t say anything, so neither did Nico.

Nico went to bed that night with his brother safely against his side, hoping to all gods that tomorrow would be better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked it!
> 
> If you're confused about how the school day is, it has six periods, 3 before lunch and 3 after. It's a small school so all grades eat at the same time.
> 
> Also, Nico's dad is not abusive, but just really strict ad not that nice of a guy.
> 
> Anyway, I think the next chapter should be posted Sunday, but Monday at the latest.
> 
> As always, author's always love comments and kudos :)


	4. Karma, Picnics, and Entirely New Information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> Fourth chapter is here and you finally start to learn a little about the history of Will and Nico.
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy :)

The next few weeks of school passed by quickly for Nico. He slowly got more used to Will and his swift comebacks, Percy and his light teasing, and Jason with his compassionate gaze.

It was almost weird how quickly _they_ became Nico’s new normal.

How quickly Nico got used to Will’s horrible singing and his insistence that he had once met and talked to an alien.

How quickly Nico got used to Percy’s obsession with dogs and the fact that he always had oranges in his backpack.

How quickly Nico got used to Jason reminding him to finish homework during lunch or bringing Nico an extra water bottle.

And if Nico was being honest with himself, which didn’t happen very often, Nico _liked_ it.

Nico enjoyed them and their personalities and how they seemed to clash, yet fit together perfectly.

Nico found himself somehow comforted by Will and Percy’s bantering.

Found himself at home the first time Jason engulfed him in a hug.

Felt like he fit perfectly in the back of Will’s car, with Jason next to him and Percy in his permanent residence of passenger seat. Will being reckless, Percy laughing, Jason trying to convince them to _slow down_ , and Nico easily smiling along.

Yeah, Nico liked it.

Well, he liked school.

He wasn’t keen on being home right now.

His father was getting harsher and harsher on Cecil.

His father was babying and coddling Hazel.

His father was ignoring him completely.

It almost felt like his dad was trying to forget that Nico existed.

Cecil slept in Nico’s bed half the time these days, Nico apparently being his only form of comfort, which Nico never would’ve guessed.

Hazel was obviously sick of it too, she didn’t like being picked over her twin because she was Cecil’s twin. And twins stuck together. At least in their brains they did.

_Maybe I could run away with them, buy a house in the south aways, by the ocean._

Nico was startled from his thoughts by the car door opening and closing.

He looked up to see Will starting up the engine and Percy going through a bag of snacks they had just gotten from a small store in the downtown area of their city.

Will looked over to Percy as he was pulling out of his parking spot.

“Give Nico the receipt.”

Nico looked at him incredulously.

“You actually bought this?”

Will hummed.

“ ‘Course I bought these. Why would you think I wouldn’t?”

Nico looked at him disbelievingly, and Will turned in his seat to give him a curious look. Percy grabbed the steering wheel with a small squeak, though he was getting more used to having to do it.

“You’re kidding right?”

Will shook his head.

“You literally stole from the convenience store like three weeks ago.”

“Oh well that was completely different.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep” Will said with the conviction of a child who promised to clean their room in exchange for a puppy.

“How so?”

“Well since you asked, the man working the cash register in that crappy store? Yeah he’s having an affair. He lives a few houses down from me and he’s tried to come into our house before, drunk and calling out for Michelle and her _lovely body_. His wife’s name is Caroline.”

Will turned back to the wheel, slapping Percy’s hands away with a loving, “God Perce, you’re the worst driver ever.”

Nico ignored that.

“So you decided to steal from him because of that?”

“I’m a self appointed Karma god Neeks, get used to it.”

Percy snorted from where he was still trying to find the reciept. _How many things did they get?_

“Yeah, sure you are Freckles.”

Percy then finally found it, holding it up triumphantly and turning around to grin at Nico and Jason.

Jason gave him a sarcastic thumbs up and Nico just rolled his eyes.

Percy huffed, “Meanies, Will, you’re proud of me right?”

“For what, Alfie?”

Alfie was Will’s nickname for Percy after he had told them about the dog that he wanted to get. A border collie that he would name Alfredo and call Alfie for short. The way Percy described the dog made it seem as if he was describing himself. Hence the new nickname.

“Finding the receipt!”

“Well do you want me to be proud of you?”

Nico and Jason groaned in unison, both seeing where this was going.

“Of course I want you to be proud of me.”

Nico heard Jason sigh out _god Perce, sometimes you walk right into it._

Nico couldn’t agree more.

“Hm, than no, I’m am utterly and completely disappointed in you.”

Percy wailed, “Why are you guys all mean to me? I did what you _asked_ me to.”

“Exactly, you can’t let yourself be bossed around!” Will cried out, mock passionately.

Percy pouted ridiculously, crossing his arms and sulking.

Nic and Jason shared a silent look. An argument between them. Who would deal with the fake upset Percy, because Will, as of right now, didn’t give a shit.

Not surprisingly, Jason lost.

He reached up and patted Percy softly on the arm, “C’mon Percy, don’t pout.”

If it was possible, Percy pouted harder.

Jason sighed lightly before moving his hand from Percy’s arm to his hair, where he soothingly raked through it.

Percy visibly relaxed, leaning ever so slightly into the touch and humming contently.

Will looked over at them before looking in the rear view mirror to meet Nico’s eyes, his expression the embodiment of _Oh my god can you believe this guy?_

Nico snorted and smiled lightly, turning to watch the road pass by.

They had decided to go on a picnic because according to Will, “The sun is shining and I’m feeling fine.”

When Will is in his overly energetic and happy mood, you don’t bother trying to protest him or else you’re met with the saddest sight ever.

Will, when being told off or his ideas are being rejected, looks like a small puppy who has been kicked one too many times.

Nico, and the other two, hated being the one responsible for that look.

Plus, when Will was in this mood, he was absolutely radiant, and it was physically impossible to find a flaw in his thinking when his happiness is rolling off of him in waves.

So Nico was stuck going on a picnic when he could be with Cecil and Hazel, helping with their weekend homework or walking them around the neighborhood.

Really just getting them out of the house.

 

When they got to the park, Will and Jason raced to their spot, while Nico helped Percy carry out their snacks.

“Hey Nico?”

“Yeah?”

Percy was quiet a second, “Why don’t you ever talk about your siblings?”

Nico stopped walking and turned to Percy.

“How do you know about them?”

“I’m not stupid Nico, you’ve accidently said their names in a few conversations and I’ve lived here my entire life, same as you have.”

“I choose not to talk about them.” Nico replied shortly, trying to get Percy to drop the subject.

“I would like to meet them.” Percy said, somewhat hopefully.

Nico stiffened, then turned and starting walking away from him, snapping, “Yeah well you’re never gonna meet them so don’t push me.”

Percy was quiet again, though Nico sensed he was gonna ask him another question.

“Would they like going on a picnic with us?”

Nico’s reply was soft and affectionate even to his own ears.

“They would love going on picnics.”

Percy dropped the subject after that, and they walked the rest of the way to their spot in silence.

When they got there, Jason was sitting on the ground leaning against a tree with Will between his legs, head pillowed against Jason’s chest as he looked up through the canopy of trees and pointed out the shapes in the clouds. Jason wasn’t looking at the clouds though, he was looking down at Will adoringly.

A few weeks ago, Nico would’ve found this sight making him both uncomfortable and slightly weirded out. The blonds weren’t romantically involved, so they had no reason to be this close to each other.

But one of the things that Nico had quickly learned about all three of his guys was that they all had no sense of personal space. They all were really big cuddlers too.

Nico hadn’t liked it at first, he still wasn’t entirely fond of it, but he had gotten used to it now.

They guys knew their boundaries too, didn’t get overly affectionate with Nico unless they sensed that something was wrong with him, usually it was Will getting this sorta insight into Nico’s moods.

Will was actually pretty attuned to all of their moods now, which was both impressive and scary.

Percy tossed Jason a bag of Oreo minis that sailed right over Will’s head, who didn’t even flinch, and into Jason’s waiting hand.

He then threw Will’s container of blueberries, which Jason caught with ease again and passed down to their freckled friend.

He dumped the rest of the snacks down on the grass, flopping down next to them and opening a bag of salt and vinegar chips, his favorite.

Nico let the snacks that he was carrying tumble out of his arms and he sat down beside Percy, taking one one his chips out of his hands before grabbing the pringles he had requested out of the pile.

“So I think we should have a Harry Potter marathon together.” Will broke the silence, swallowing one of his blueberries.

“Hell no, we’re having a Lord of the Rings and Hobbit marathon first.” Jason argued.

“You’re insane, Harry Potter is so much better.”

“Oh my god how could you even say that-”

“You’re obviously uneducated in the Wizarding World you muggle-”

Jason and Will argued on, talking over each other and completely past each other.

Nico put in his opinion every here and there, telling them when one had a good point or when one was being a complete hypocrite (Will, twice)

“I think we should have a Twilight marathon.” Percy said at one point.

The other three went dead silent, turning to look at the black haired boy.

“You fucking idiot.”

“You’re never picking out our movies.”

“I can’t believe you just said that.”

Will, Jason, and Nico all said at the same time. Percy looked at them wide eyed, before huffing and turning away, muttering about how they could all go fuck themselves.

 

Their nice picnic was cut off rather abruptly by Will.

He had his head thrown back in laughter when his phone had buzzed. He had ignored it, instead turning to poke Jason’s cheek playfully.

But then his phone had buzzed again and Nico had watched in mild amusement as his eyebrows furrowed in apparent confusion and he reached out to look at it.

Nico’s amusement dissipated the second he saw Will’s face drain of all color, his skin looking pale and his freckles becoming near invisible.

The next second, Will was in an all out panic, springing up and trying to desperately grab up all their trash and unopened snacks.

He was babbling incoherently telling Jason to get rid of his... socks (?) and for Percy to start up the trash can(?).

The three _sane_ friends exchanged worried looks, Nico stood too, walking calmly to Will and taking him by the shoulders.

“Will, babe, calm, deep breaths, ‘k?”

Will looked at Nico wildly, reminding Nico of an animal that had just been caged, before nodding and taking deep, steadying breaths.

They waited in tense silence for a few minutes until Will seemed to be at least partially calm.

“Now, can you explain what’s going on?”

Immediately, Will looked sick again, though he gulped in a quick gasp of air and attempted to give a kind of explanation.

“My mom texted… she says… no wait...I have to… no no.. I… she… Dad…”

The blond was still too distraught to think clearly, unable to speak in comprehensible english. He took one excessively long breath.

“I need to go home _now_.”

Nico nodded, glancing at Percy and Jason who had both scrambled to stand too.

“But I’m not leaving you hear in park with no way of getting home. C’mon.”

Will was them shakily walking back towards his car. Jason jogged to keep him steady and Percy trailed a few feet behind at Nico’s side, picking up all the trash and snacks that slipped and fell from Will’s arms.

 

Their way home was tense. Will was driving well over the speed limit and obviously had no intentions of slowing down in anyway.

No one, not even Jason, called him on it though.

He also didn’t sing along to the music, even though Nico knew that one of the songs that came on was his “go to karaoke”.

Will’s distressed mood was easily palpable, and Nico wanted desperately to help, but he had no idea how.

This wasn’t like with his siblings.

With his siblings, he knew how the comfort them based on their personalities.

Hazel liked to rant to him while drawing intricate pictures in the kitchen in the middle of the night while Nico made her hot chocolate and Cecil played with her hair.

Cecil prefered to hide away in Nico’s room, under his comforters while cuddling his older brother and watching an old disney movie that Nico had downloaded on his computer. He liked waking up feeling safe and protected in Nico’s bed while Nico played soft music for them to get ready for the day together.

Will obviously needed comfort or reassurance, but Nico had no idea how to give it.

 

Will dropped them off at Jason’s place, and Jason promised Will he’d drive the remaining two home so Will could go straight home.

True to his word, Jason ushered Percy and Nico into his car, Nico getting shot gun this time.

This drive was also almost entirely silent, all of them lost completely to their own thoughts. Not even Percy was trying to defuse the tension that seemed to have settled between the friends.

Jason dropped Nico off first, parking across the street from his house.

Jason didn’t look at Nico or Percy as he said, “What do you think Will’s problem was?”

Nico shut his eyes, remembering Will’s panic and _pain_ stricken face as he had looked at his phone.

Nico chose not to reply.

He got out the car, murmuring a thanks to Jason before turning and walking towards his house.

He could see into the living room again.

His step mom was sitting on his father’s lap, laughing at something. Cecil was shrunk back against one the couch, a pillow clutched to his chest. Hazel was staring out the window, watching Nico as he turned away from the front door, again, and moving to climb up the rain pipe again.

It was weird to turn around and not have someone to shoo away, Jason had already left to drop Percy off.

No Will.

Nico dropped down on his bed, making the best decision of his life to _take a fucking nap_.

 

Nico was woken up by insistent knocking. He dazedly walked to to his door and opened it, expecting it to be Cecil.

Except, there was no one at his door.

Nico tilted his head, trying to find an explanation through the fog in his brain.

Then there was another knock.

Nico felt his eyes widening and he looked closer at his door trying to figure how it was knocking when there was no one there.

“Nico” there was a small hiss.

Nico stumbled back a step, then working up his nerve he reached out and touched the door again, “So you can talk too? How did you do that?”

“Behind you, you moron.”

Nico closed his door then turned around curiously, trying to understand _where all this noise was coming from_.

Nico didn’t think to look at his window.

Instead he looked towards the ceiling, “God, if you’re up there, did you send me a fucking ghost? Why would you _do_ that?”

“Nico god dammit look at your window.”

Nico rolled his eyes but decided to trust the ghost, looking at his window.

Only to have to cover his mouth to muffle his surprised scream.

“Will?”

Will smiled sheepishly back, standing on the rain pipe and hanging on to Nico’s window ledge for dear life. Nico hurried to open his window, letting Will climb in and flop down on his bed.

“Why are you here? Are ok? Do you need help or something?”

Will laughed uneasily, looking like he was moments away from breaking down.

Actually, now that Nico looked closer, Will looked like he _had_ been crying. His eyes were red and slightly watery. There were obvious tear trails that hadn’t quite dried yet, his skin was still much too pale, and his hair was much more of a mess than usual.

“Can we cuddle?”

Nico was slightly taken aback. That was surprisingly straightforward. And although his initial response was _hell no_ , Nico still found himself laying down beside Will and wrapping his arms hesitantly around the latter.

Will sniffled slightly, nuzzling himself slightly into Nico’s embrace, moving his head to Nico’s chest and entangling their legs together.

“I have to visit my dad in a few times.”

Nico stayed silent, hoping for Will to continue. He did.

“My mom texted me that my dad was insisting that I visited because according to their divorce papers, they do have joint custody. So I’m leaving Tuesday to go see him, I come back next Sunday.”

Will shifted slightly, and when Nico looked down at him, Will didn’t look up to meet his gaze. He looked as if he were miserable, as if he didn’t want to talk but didn’t know what else to do.

Will was never good with silence unless he was deep in thought.

“I don’t wanna visit him Nico. He was a good man, once. But not so much anymore. I think money corrupted him, awhile ago he got a shit ton of money and didn’t know what to do with it. I don’t like what he did end up doing with it. Not good things Nico, nothing he does anymore is good.”

“And it’s not like he actually works for this money. He has a bunch of high ranking and wealthy friends that pay for him to _get rid of their problems_. Not murder or any of that but he sorta just makes them go ‘poof’ out of existence. Doesn’t matter if the problem is the woman they slept with or an unpaid debt, he always managed to get rid of them. When I was younger he told me he was a magician, that he could make anything disappear. I asked him to make the old lady next door’s dog disappear and the next morning it was gone.”

Nico didn’t know what happened to the poor dog.

Will choked on a sob, tears now streaming down his face.

“He told me when I was twelve. Imagine that, years later he told me the truth of what had happened to the dog that always barked at me. He had sold it to a company that tested on animals. He told me that not even a week after he had sold it, they had killed it with a chemical that wasn’t supposed to be in the product. I didn’t want the dog gone Nico, I just didn’t like it.”

Nico’s grip on Will tightened, silently encouraging him to go on.

“I think they only had me because my mom was desperate for a child and my dad wanted a woman who was up for a good fuck. I know he had affairs. He has at least 5 other children besides me. I’ve met all but one of them and they’re all amazing and I can’t believe that they are alive because of my evil dad’s stupid sperm.”

That took Nico completely by surprise.

Will had half siblings?

That he had met?

And by the sound of, had gotten along well with.

“He has anger management problems. Like really bad, uncontrollable fits. He has a medication for them, but he stopped taking them when I was about nine. When he stopped taking them my life became utter _hell_.”

Will’s mouth snapped close after that though, and he turned so he was fully pressed against Nico, crying into his chest.

Nico rubbed soothing circles on Will’s back with one hand, using the other to reach up and gently stroke through Will’s hair.

“How about you tell me about your siblings and I’ll tell you about mine.” Nico proposed softly, and he felt Will nod.

“Well the oldest one, the one I met first was Lee, Lee Fletcher. He looks a little like me, except he has more muscle, his skin and hair are both paler, and he doesn’t have any freckles. My dad once talked about him to my mom when he thought I was asleep, so I looked him up and decided to ask to meet with him somewhere. He was amazing Nico, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He loves music and is really good at playing the guitar and ukulele and he has an amazing voice. He’s nineteen and goes to school in Santa Barbara and gave me a list of all the other siblings he knows about, along with all his contact information in case I ever have to escape my dad.”

Will was quiet again, and Nico closed his eyes, trying to picture Lee Fletcher, who Will obviously looked up to and adored.

Then Nico begin.

“Well I have my half sister Hazel. She’s awesome Will, you’d love her. She’s extremely witty and clever, but is the most caring and compassionate person I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. She likes doing puzzles and drawing because she likes being in touch with her mind. She collects stones that intrigue her but doesn’t like crystals, says they’re too posh. She was born from my stepmom, but is absolutely nothing like her. Her favorite drink is hot chocolate and her favorite food is apples dipped in caramel.”

Will hummed, “She sounds lovely.”

“So does Lee.”

 

Two hours later and Nico knew all about Will’s siblings; Michael Yew, Austin Lake, and Kayla Knowles.

According to Will, Michael was seventeen, Austin was sixteen, and Kayla was fourteen, turning fifteen in less than two months. They all lived relatively close to each other, less than a day’s drive away, and liked to have catch up sessions every month or so.

Will also mentioned his last sibling, Lauren, who was thirteen and the youngest that Will knew of, but Will had never met because he didn’t have anyway of contacting her. Lee hadn’t known about her and because Will didn’t know Lauren's last name, he couldn’t look her up anywhere.

He also mentioned in passing that they were all overly protective of Will, because he was the only one who actually ever had to live with their dad, and although none of them had ever lived with him, besides Lee when he was one, they all knew how horrible their dad was.

Nico didn’t think that Will had meant to say that, but that exhaustion was getting to him and he was losing control over how much he shared.

Nico also could sense that Will was drifting off by the way his words began slurring, his breathing began to even out, and his hold on Nico’s shirt was loosening.

Nico decided to put him to sleep by talking about his last sibling, Bianca.

“Bianca is my world, Will. Or she had been when she was still alive. She died years ago in a fire. We lived in a house close to downtown. We never found out what caused the fire, but truthfully, I never really wanted to know in the first place. She was the best big sister ever. She enjoyed talking to me about everything, she taught me all the constellations and read to me about Greek myths every night. She did most of my chores because she thought I shouldn’t have to do them. She had been smart Will, _so_ smart. She was on track to be a fucking engineer or biochemist or something that involves a lot of brains.”

Nico hesitated for a second, but decided to continue on.

“I think my dad blames me that they’re dead. He was still at work when it happened, and I was the only one downstairs, so I was able to run out the front door, but they were trapped upstairs by the flames. I know that Bianca was my father’s favorite, and even having the most perfect twins in the world couldn’t fill the hole that Bianca and my mom left.”

Nico stopped talking because his mouth was suddenly dry. He had never shared any of that out loud, and even now it didn’t make him feel better.

He sighed a gripped Will harder, who grumbled lightly in his sleep but didn’t pull away.

Nico went to bed that night worrying for his best friend, wondering about his best friend’s siblings, and dreading the day that Will had to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In an earlier update of this chapter, there was an OC from MelChan's story mentioned because I wasn't entirely sure if it was a canon character or not.
> 
> I don't want to steal MelChan's work, so I've replaced him with an OC of my own
> 
> Thank you to whoever pointed that out to me :)
> 
> Anyways, next update should be on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how much I manage to write today.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated :)


	5. Mace is a good dog and Percy is a good friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read my author note before reading
> 
> thanks :)
> 
> Also, there isn't much dialogue in this chapter, mostly because I wanted the reader to understand Will's story and I couldn't really find a place to fit anything else in without getting completely into another chapter that i have planned.

**A/N** Hey everyone!

So before this chapter begins, I would just like to address one or two comments I got (weren’t bad at all, just helped me realize some things)

I am not trying to take anything from the fabulous writer MelChan’s work at all.

There are some similarities that I’ve noticed, but I’m working extra hard to make sure that I don’t take any of their writing.

As I said before, this was originally written as a Bellarke fanfic that I was working on, so the entire plotline is coming from my original story, not taken from MelChan’s though I see where it may seem like it.

Thank you to the commenters who pointed it out though, I just wanted to make sure that all you amazing readers do not think I am stealing another writer’s work, because I’m really not meaning to at all.

Also, I'm not entirely sure of their pronouns, it said on their tumblr that they preferred they/them but if anyone know for sure please let me know.

Thank you all for reading, and here’s the next chapter :)

  


Nico woke up to a cold room, a cold bed, and a missing Will.

The window was open, so Nico assumed that Will had woken up earlier and decided to head home to get his stuff for school. Nico desperately wanted that to be the only reason Will left.

The house was still quiet, and when Nico looked at the clock we was, not so pleasantly, surprised to see that he had a full hour before school started.

The Italian thought through his conversation with Will again.

_So Will has siblings?_

_And a lot of them._

Nico found himself thinking about them, how he imagined they acted. Were they anything like Will? How were they all different? Did they all do that weird thing of picking up on other’s emotions?

God Nico hoped not.

Nico sat up in bed when he heard footsteps stopping outside of his door.

Cecil again? Or maybe Will hadn’t left and had decided to explore?

The footsteps resumed their walking, down the hallway this time.

Nico relaxed back into his bed.

He didn’t have the energy or the motivation to face the day.

  


Will tightened his hold on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white and his arms were trembling with effort.

God he hated lying.

But he wasn’t going to explain the complicated truth until he knew the whole thing himself.

He didn’t necessarily think he was keeping anything from his friends, and what he had told Nico was partially the truth anyways.

Except, Will had never even met his father.

Will had been put right into the adoption services, his mother too young and his dad too immature.

But then Will had gotten in trouble with the authorities and he was sent off to a detention center for two months.

And when he was finally released, he was put in the foster care system and passed around from home to home like a hot potato.

And then Will had been put in the detention center for a second time, and his social worker gave up on him and put him in a boys home.

That was where he met Austin.

It was purely coincidental, and at the time they didn’t even know that they were half brothers.

They didn’t find out until after Will was out of the home and with his mom.

Austin taught Will how to play the guitar, and the pair had hit it off instantly, having the same musical taste and similar hobbies.

Will felt at home with Austin.

And Will had felt a semblance of normal, but then his mom had found him, after apparently years of searching for her “baby boy”.

And now Will was here.

Will wanted to cry again, but found he couldn’t.

His dad was trying to get custody of him.

His dad was trying to get custody of _all of them_.

Michael, Austin, Kayla, Lauren, and _Will_.

Lee was safe, he wasn’t a minor anymore, _he was safe_.

The worst part; Will’s mom wasn’t fighting back, she didn’t know how and she didn’t know if she wanted too.

So Will’s dad was going to win.

Will wasn’t stupid, even if his mom did want to fight, they still wouldn’t have stood a chance.

And judging by what all his siblings were saying, they were in the same boat.

Kayla’s adopted mom was hiring a lawyer, but Kayla’s adoption papers were on temporary hold because of a claim that her mom was abusive.

She wasn’t.

It was times like this that he desperately wished that he knew and had met and could talk to Lauren, but she was unreachable.

Unreachable even after Will had made contact with his dad for the first time and had begged and pleaded hopelessly for her information so that Will could just talk to her.

Just once.

But Will’s dad had ignored him, instead going on and on about how Will and his siblings would soon be in their rightful home, far in Beverly Hills, where they would be Untouchable by all.

He thought he was doing what was right for his children.

He always thought he was doing what was best for his children.

Will knew his dad didn’t think things through. Just like Will was aware that his dad tracked him and watched him and his siblings, keeping tabs on them at all times.

He didn’t mean it bad, he didn’t mean it creepily. He thought that what he was doing was protecting them.

Protecting them from what exactly, Will wasn’t entirely sure.

Most likely nothing.

Will also knew that of everyone, he was his father’s favorite. He wasn’t sure why, but he did know that even if he couldn’t get the rest of his siblings, he would get Will.

That thought sent Will tumbling from the car again, retching on the street everything he had eaten in the last twelve hours.

He gasped desperately for breath, his hand shaking as he reached for his phone in his back pocket.

Before Will was even sure of what he was doing, Percy’s voice sounded through his phone.

“Will? What’s wrong sugar plum?”

Percy always thought he was clever when he tried to rhyme like that, even though the rest of them insisted that it wasn’t clever, it was just bad.

“Hey Perce, thought I’d take you up on that offer.”

Percy hummed, as if agreeing, then stopped, “Which one?”

Will snorted lightly, “Would you mind taking me to see Mace?”

“Oh. _Oh!_ Of course Solace, come pick me up in five?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you then.”

They hung up and Will got back in his car. He took a big swig of water, swishing it in his mouth before spitting it out the window, trying to get the taste of bile out of his mouth.

Will looked out the open window at his vomit on the street and grimaced, pouring the rest of his water on it to hopefully wash it away.

He felt a tingling feeling around his mouth startup, like thousands of ants walking on his face.

He wiped pathetically at his mouth, though he knew that the tingling feeling wasn’t actually bugs but a psychological phenomenon brought on by intense stress and anxiety.

Oh god, he had to pull himself together.

He started the engine and drove to Percy’s house.

  


Will wasn’t entirely sure why he had the sudden need to see the puppy again, but he did know that he felt a fuck ton better once he was with the puppy in Percy’s friend, Piper’s, backyard.

According to Percy, Piper’s dad was some pretty famous actor who was busy working in Hollywood right now and wanted Piper to be with him.

Will wasn’t sure why parents were obsessed with having their children with them.

Percy talked enough for the both of them, which was another reason why Will felt he called him. His subconscious must’ve been still sane to think to call Percy.

Perce didn’t question any of it.

He just kept talking, switching from one topic to the next with as much ease as Will.

Will kept his mouth shut, though he listened intently to every word Percy uttered, though have of it was useless commentary or Percy trying to remember if he was telling a story right or not.

Will smiled to himself, hogging Mace entirely, though Percy either didn’t notice or didn’t give a shit.

Most likely the former because Percy wasn’t not the most observant.

He hadn’t realized that Will was hopelessly crushing on him, even though Will felt as if he was being rather obvious himself.

Will had blatantly used a pick up line on him the other day, but Percy had laughed, called him a dork, and asked how he had come up with it.

Will didn’t know how he could just _make Percy realize_.

But right now really wasn’t the time for feelings, but Will couldn’t suppress it.

He had never been very good at hiding his emotions, he had always worn his heart on his sleeve and he knew for a fact that Jason had picked up on his crush on Percy.

He wasn’t entirely sure about Nico, but he did know that his best friend would figure it out soon enough.

Nico was smart.

  


Percy was aware of the time passing. He knew that they should at least be on their way to school by now, but Will flat out refused to leave Mace, so they were still in Piper’s backyard, playing with the cheerful puppy.

It had almost amazed Percy how quickly Will had relaxed when he had seen Mace. Will had looked stricken when Percy had first gotten in the car with him, but Percy hadn’t mentioned anything, instead giving directions and babbling about his mom and spring time and whatever else he could think of to distract Will from what was clearly bothering the blond.

But nothing Percy had said would make Will calm down at all.

When Mace had run from his bad to Will, barking happily, Will had beamed, sitting on the ground and indulging the puppy in tummy rubs and different games.

But now it was late morning, and Will still hadn’t moved from his place on the ground, Mace’s head on his lap as Will scratched his head mindlessly.

Percy wanted to pry, but had never been good with advice or comfort, so instead acted to part of oblivious dork who could talk for hours on end, and Will bought it.

Then their late morning turned into lunchtime, then early afternoon.

Percy had gone into Piper’s house to grab them food and drinks (and possibly snuck Mace another treat so that he wouldn’t leave Will’s lap but _shhh_ ) for lunch, but otherwise stayed with Will.

It was around one in the afternoon when Will finally stood, stretching out, his bones cracking from sitting in the same position for upwards of six hours.

Will turned to Percy with big eyes when he had stretched out every kink.

“Woah.”

Percy chuckled, “That’s what you get for refusing to move.”

Will stuck his tongue out at Percy, but didn’t bother coming up with a retort.

Percy felt his phone buzz for the upteenth time, and decided that he should finally check what it was.

He wasn’t surprised when he saw it was their group chat, both Nico and Jason asking why neither of them were at school, Nico complaining that Bio was torture without them because the teacher had finally bothered to show up and Jason making sure that they weren’t in jail for any reason.

Percy didn’t reply, sticking his phone back in his pocket and following Will out to his car, making sure to lock the side gate behind him.

Will turned on the car and seemed to contemplate something before pulling out of his (horrible, and because it was Will, most likely illegal) parking spot. They were driving towards school, and Percy was _not_ looking forward explaining to the front office why they were both so late.

But when the turn for their parking lot appeared, Will yelped and stepped on the gas, flooring them past the school and down the street.

“Will slow down!” Percy yelled desperately, but Will shook his head feverishly, narrowing his eyes and swerving past a car that was going too slow.

“Where are we going!”

Will looked over at Percy, and for the first time Percy saw the shattered, unguarded look in them.

“I don’t know!”

It took Percy a moment to really understand what Will had said and then

“What!”

“I said I don’t know! But we’re not going home and we’re not going to school.”

Percy was supposed to be the immature one, but in this moment he felt a hell lot like Jason must feel all the time.

“Will we have to know where we’re going.”

Will was quiet again, not letting their speed up at all, as if he was racing to get out of the town.

Maybe he was.

“Santa Barbara.”

“Solace, do you even hear yourself? Santa Barbara is four hours away.”

“Yeah I’m aware, and you’re coming with me to Santa Barbara.”

Percy struggled to keep himself calm.

“Why are we going to Santa Barbara _Will?_ ” He grit out between clenched teeth.

“My brother.”

Will was finally starting to slow down, right as they got on the highway.

“You have a brother?”

“Yeah, well, ok technically half brother but he _feels_ like a real brother.”

“And he lives in Santa Barbara?”

“Yep.”

Percy nodded, thinking this new information over.

“Ok, so we’re going to Santa Barbara.”

Will looked over at him in surprise, “Wait really? You’re ok with this?”

“I mean, it's definitely not ideal, but sure let’s do this.”

Will nodded resolutely and turned back to the road.

Percy let himself get comfortable, it was a long drive after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you guys liked it, its shorter than usual because its just Will and Percy's POV of the day, and I bet you could easily guess that Jason and Nico will come next.
> 
> Just please know that I am trying really hard to make this a good story and I don't mean to steal anything from anyone else's work and I triple check to make sure that I don't.
> 
> If you do think that this s turning out to much like another author's story I will stop writing it out of respect for the other author, but please let me know if it seems that this story is too alike .
> 
> I would hate for someone to take my writing so I try not to take anyone else's
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated.


	6. Jason and Nico, Will Percy and Lee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry for the late update, I couldn't decide exactly where I wanted to go with this chapter, though I am really happy with how it turned out.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy :)

Nico sighed loudly when his fourteenth call in a row, but really who was counting -Nico, Nico was definitely counting, went to Will’s voicemail.

No this was not normal.

Yes Nico was worried.

Probably more worried than the situation warranted for, but hey Will was his best friend and it wasn’t like him to just miss school, especially without letting Nico know beforehand.

And it wasn’t like Will to just ignore Nico’s calls, he usually picked up on, at most, the third ring if not before.

Also, Nico was one hundred percent certain that Will one; had his phone with him, and two; his phone wasn’t out of battery.

So yes, Nico was very worried for his friend.

Jason was also very obviously worried, though he was keeping it hidden much better than Nico.

Jason let out an exasperated groan and dropped his phone onto his lap, burying his hands in his hair and shutting his eyes tightly.

“They did not run away. They did not run away. Percy is smarter than that-”

At that comment, Nico really wanted to correct him but refrained.

“Well, maybe Percy isn’t that smart. But Will isn’t that reckless-”

Again, Nico felt the need to tell Jason that, yes Will really  _ was _ that reckless, but kept quiet.

“Actually, Will really is that reckless.”

Jason was quiet for another second, before turning to look at Nico with wide eyes.

“I take it all back, they’re both stupid enough to run away. God they ran away didn’t they.”

Or maybe Jason was now officially at his breaking point but Nico just hadn’t noticed.

Nico patted Jason’s back in consolation.

“Although they’re both unbelievably idiotic at times, I don’t think that either of them are really stupid enough to run away. Except they do bring out the worst in each other...”

Nico trailed off thoughtfully.

It was true of course, Will and Percy were at their peak stupid when with each other, egging each other on and each wanting to out due the other.

Nico’s phone rang and Percy’s contact picture popped up on the screen, a snapchat of him and Will together with the bumblebee filter on them, one of Nico’s all time favorite photos.

He all but dove to get it from where it had been tossed on the backseat of Jason’s car and fumbled for a second to answer, when he did, Jason gestured for him to put it on speaker.

“Hey Nico, so got some news for you.”

“Percy, Perseus Jackson. Are you ok? Are you with Will? Where are you guys?” Nico managed to get out, despite the fact that his mouth was now inexplicably dry.

“We ran away.”

It went dead silent.

Then…

“Jackson you fucking idiot I could kill you right now.”

That shout came from a livid Jason.

“Percy where are you? We’re coming to join you right now.”

That yell from distressed Nico.

“God Alfie you’re such an idiot, I told you not to say that.”

And that was the muffled and distant sound of Will’s voice.

Nico wanted to cry in relief.

“Will? Will! Moron, fucker, idiot. Where are you? Will you’re ok right? God I was so worried.”

There was rustling on the other side of the phone, a brief argument between the two runaways took place, Percy with an insistent  _ Will you can’t talk on the phone and drive it’s illegal _ and Will shooting back  _ Oh shut the fuck up, I don’t obey the law because I am the law, _ which made Jason snort, then Will’s voice sounded loud and clear through the speaker.

“Hey Neeks. Yeah I’m here, sorry for the scare, it was sorta an impulsive thing, y’know? Anyway, we’re taking the back way to see my brother, you’re welcome to drive out too, but don’t feel pressured or anything.”

The sound of Will’s careless babbling sent Nico over the edge, and the next second he was slumping sideways against Jason with silent tears streaking down his face.

God he was a mess.

He had been out of contact with Will for a  _ day _ and look at how screwed up he became.

_ Screw you codependence. _

Jason wrapped his arm around Nico, rubbing Nico’s side soothingly.

“Yeah blondie, we’re gonna follow you tomorrow morning ok? Send us whatever address you’re headed for and we’ll be there as soon as we can get there.” Jason replied when Nico remained quiet.

“Ok, Percy’s gonna send it in a few minutes. We took the long way round so we probably won’t get there until late tonight, I wanted to see the wildflowers on the Carrizo Plain and Percy wanted to see a psychic in Ventura or some shit.”

“Oh stop spreading lies Will, you told me the shorter way was ugly, that’s literally the only reason we’re going this way.” Percy said indignantly, though his voice was far off.

Nico and Jason shared a look that screamed  _ awe aren’t they just adorable _ .

“Ok guys, you focus on driving and getting there in one piece, text us when you get there.”

Jason was ever the mother hen.

“And don’t think we’re not gonna force out why you two had the bright idea to run away.”

And Nico was ever the curious cat, or however that saying went.

But seriously, what the fuck.

Why had they just decided to run away together.

And without Nico and Jason!

Cruel human beings.

Though, Nico was aware of Will’s growing affection towards the black haired friend.

Same as Nico was aware of Jason’s growing affections towards their freckled friend.

Honestly, at this rate, they were bound to have some intense Kardashian sized drama go down.

Nico inwardly cringed at his own analogy and decided to try and focus on the on going conversation instead.

Right,  _ focus _ .

“Yeah, yeah. Love you guys too, I’ll see you in a bit, hold on Perce wants to talk to you.”

There was the sound of rustling again, then Percy saying  _ Careful Will, just because you treat your phone like crap doesn’t mean you get to treat mine like that too _ , which was followed by a loud smack and and small whine.

“Guys~ Will just hit me!”

“Sounds like you deserved it Percy.”

“Jason~”

“God Percy you sound like a little kid.”

That made Percy huff, “Excuse you I’ll have you know that I am, in fact older, than half of our group and- oh shut up Will I meant as in physical age- so therefore I am not capable of being a little kid because that role is taken by the fabulous person who decided to run away from his probl- ok, freckles, if you don’t have anything nice to say then keep your mouth shut.”

Nico laughed out loud at that, his tears finally seizing.

“So anyway, the next time we stop I’ll send the address to you guys. Also,” Percy lowered his voice, “did you know Will has a two hour long playlist of just Disney songs?”

“Fuck you Percy!” Will shouted in the background, followed by Percy’s loud cackling.

“Anyway, love you guys and see you in a little yeah?”

Jason and Nico said bye then hung up.

“Well, can’t say I didn’t expect that honestly.”

Nico let out a breathy laugh.

“God what are we gonna do with them?”

Jason got serious, “I honestly can’t help but think that we all met because whatever higher power there is knew that they wouldn’t survive without someone keeping them out of trouble.”

Nico grinned.

“Aren’t we lucky bastards then?” Jason laughed heartily and ruffled Nico’s hair.

When Jason ruffled your hair, it was his way of saying he cared for you.

Nico had noticed it the last couple of weeks.

When Will said something particularly strange, or out of the blue, Jason would smile affectionately and reach out to tousle Will’s curls.

When Percy acted especially oblivious, Jason would rake his hand through Percy’s unruly hair.

When Nico said certain things, he hadn’t caught a certain pattern to his own actions just yet, Jason would gently ruffle his hair so that it stood on end.

At first, both Will and Nico liked to act upset about it, but now they both unconsciously to lean into the touch. Nico actually believed that Will might crave the soft touch.

Percy had always liked it, though he also claimed that it made him feel like a kid.

Which he was.

Honestly Will and Percy were such kids.

The other night they had been baking brownies together and they fought over who got to lick the batter off of the spoon.

Jason had ended up letting Percy have the spoon, while Will got to try and scrape the bowl clean.

They bickered constantly, though it never went as far as to hurt the other’s feeling.

Hey both enjoyed coloring books and when they went to the diner together during the open campus lunch last week, they both got crayons and the kids menu.

And now, thanks to Percy, Nico knew that Will listened to Disney music.

Ok, Nico probably could’ve guessed that, but  _ still _ .

They were kids.

And Nico couldn’t help but feel as if Jason’s statement  _ had _ been true.

Where would Percy and Will be without Jason’s voice of reason to talk them down and the Nico’s calming reassurances to get them to settle down.

But at the same time, where would Nico and Jason be without Percy and Will?

Jason would probably still be liked by everyone, but friends with no one.

Nico would probably still be thinking about ending things and ignoring the world around him.

Weird how things had a natural way of balancing out like that.

Some minutes later, Jason dropped Nico off in front of his house with instructions to be ready for anything by seven tomorrow morning.

Nico smiled at him and agreed, before entering his house and instantly getting an armful of Cecil and Hazel.

Nico smiled.

  
  
  


Percy sighed as he shifted to get more comfortable, wishing once again he could sleep in the car, but he couldn’t. Even if the car was parked and not moving in the slightest.

They had pulled off the highway and into a small gas station that had one working pump that looked rusty and eroded, as if no one bothered to do maintenance on it since the great depression (did you even  _ do _ maintenance on pumps? Percy didn’t know) and only took tokens from the shop inside.

Will had taken it upon himself to go and get the tokens, though Percy hadn’t missed the way he snagged his wallet and stole a ten dollar bill.

Honestly if Will needed the money he could’ve just asked.

But Will wasn’t one to really ask, now was he.

The ‘alternate route’ added a good three hours to their journey, as they travelled further south than need be. Though Percy wasn’t really complaining. Will was good company, especially when he was in the mood he was now.

Which was to say, Will  _ had  _ to stop at every place that piqued his interest.

No, but seriously.

The one time Percy had convinced him to drive past a ‘pick your own oranges’ orchard, Will had gone completely silent for twenty minutes before slamming on the brakes and making an (illegal) u-turn so he could go back.

That little adventure had added another hour to their drive.

The door was opened and Percy begrudgingly pried an eye open, looking over at Will, who was looking at his phone and eating sunflower seeds.

Will seemed to sense Percy’s gaze and he looked over, holding out the bag of sunflower seeds sheepishly.

“Want some?” He asked around the mouthful of food.

Percy kept his face impassive. “Where’d you get those?”

If it were possible, Will looked even more abashed as he mumbled something unintelligible.

“What?”

“I said a guy in the store gave them to me.”

“Will…”

“I know I know, but he promised me they weren’t drugged so I took them.”

“Ever heard of LYING SOLACE?”

Will flinched. “How can you even drug sunflower seeds though Alfredo, they’re grown not made.”

Percy stopped and through that through for a second, feeling his anger dissipate the longer he looked at the blond.

Finally h sighed, “Fine, but I still don’t like it. Don’t do that again, k?”

“M’k Perce, promise.”

They lapsed into silence for a moment.

“I think he was flirting with me.”

Percy’s head hit his hands, “Oh my god Will, we’re leaving. C’mon, put on your music and let’s leave.”

Will laughed but listened to Percy, starting up the car and pulling away from the station, blowing a kiss to a man as he left the small market.

Percy listened to Will sing for the next few minutes, content on staying quiet instead of picking a fight with the blond like he usually would’ve. He raked his hands through his hair, attempting to flatten it down a little.

But Will apparently wasn’t on the same page, as another five minutes later they were pulling over to the side of the road because Will was laughing so hard he couldn’t drive.

“Ok what gives freckles? Is there something on my face? Well let me tell you, you have something on your face too! Yeah, you have, you uh have freckles on your face! So, uh, well, so take that! HA, check and mate motherfucker.”

That sent Will into another fit of howling laughter, doubling over in his seat and clutching his sides desperately, gasping out a weak, “Stop… too good…”

Percy waited, muttering impatiently while Will calmed himself down.

Though the second Will looked over at Percy again, he was laughing again, though not as bad as before.

“Mind explaining why my face is making you hysterical?”

Will smirked at him, still chuckling.

“Percy, with your hair like that, you look like a 70s door to door salesman.”

Oh.

Well that was certainly not what Percy was expecting.

He looked in the back view mirror and let out a small wail.

God, why was it  _ true? _

Will was laughing uncontrollably again, and Percy thought distantly  _ I could get used to causing that laugh _ .

  
  


They showed up at Lee’s apartment late that night, both weary and in need of a bed and  _ rest _ .

Lee opened to their knocking, looking taken aback when he saw his tired younger brother and his friend on his doorstep.

But he didn’t ask any questions.

He stepped aside and let them in wordlessly, closing the door behind them and ushering them further into the apartment.

Lee was tall, taller than both Percy by an inch or so and towered a few good inches over Will, though not as tall as Jason. His hair was a lighter shade of blond, and his eyes were more of a greenish blue than Will’s, whose eyes were an astonishing bright blue that always whirled with emotion. 

Unlike Will, Lee had no freckles, but a few moles dotted his skin. He was wearing sweats and no shirt, obviously not expecting company.

Oops.

Percy flopped unceremoniously onto Lee’s couch and watched with unmasked apprehension as Lee embraced Will in a brotherly, but gentle, hug, clutching onto him like a lifeline.

It was only then that Percy realized that Will was crying, and suddenly he felt like an intruder to a rather personal scene.

But the brothers didn’t ask him to leave.

They didn’t really even acknowledge Percy’s presence at first.

“I am really sorry about Dad, this whole situation sucks.” Lee said pulling back and holding Will at arm’s distance, though Will’s gaze stayed stubbornly on his feet, and Percy was surprised by how similar it sounded to Will’s voice, both being angelic and soft, yet energetic and passionate at the same time. It was unnerving.

“It's a sucky family anyway.”

“A family that comes out with you in it can’t suck too much, babe.” Lee said, moving one of Will’s curls off of his forehead. The amount of brotherly tenderness made Percy slightly envious, though he pushed it aside, feeling guilty and selfish, this was about Will, not himself.

Will chuckled tiredly, “God I needed this Lee, I miss you guys so much.”

Lee gazed down at his baby brother gently, “I miss you too, sunflower. We all have missed you.”

Will dropped against Lee’s chest with a small sigh.

Lee smiled softly, resting his chin on the top of Will’s head, stroking through Will’s hair with one hand and holding him tightly by the waist with the other.

It was quiet in the home for a few minutes, the only sound coming from what Percy assumed was Lee’s computer and a fish tank that was filtering water.

Finally, Lee cut through the silence, “I’m guessing you two are here to stay for a while?”

Will nodded, not pulling away from Lee.

“Ok, well my roommate is in his home town visiting family for the next two days, so you guys can use his bed for now. Are you ok with sharing a bed?”

Will nodded again, and Lee glanced over at Percy for confirmation, no doubt, who smiled and nodded too.

“Alright, I’ll get you guys some things to sleep in. It's late, so we’ll talk this over in the morning, okay sunflower?”

Will mumbled something, and Percy could tell that the blond was already half asleep.

Lee looked over at Percy apologetically, “Could you take him to the room while I get you two some comfy clothes?”

Percy nodded without thinking and stood to get Will, who blindly allowed Lee to maneuver him into Percy’s arms instead.

“I’m Percy by the way. I go to school with Will now.”

Lee smiled warmly, reminding Percy so much of the friend that was now in his arms, “I’m Lee Fletcher, Will’s eldest half brother.” 

Eldest.

Oldest.

There were other siblings.

“I would shake your hand but mine are a little full.”

Lee laughed quietly and eyed Percy, “You’re funny. I hope you stick around.”

“Trust me, I don’t think I’ll be leaving him any time soon.

Lee laughed again, then told Percy where the other bedroom was, though it was only four rooms so Percy would’ve found it rather quickly.

Speaking of quickly, Percy was quick to  realize that carrying the tired blond was about ninety seven percent more effective than letting him stumble over his own two feet, so he swept Will up and carried him to the room, slightly alarmed at how light the other felt in his arms.

He placed Will on the bed and began to take his shoes off. Will grumbled slightly at that, claiming he was capable of doing it himself though he made no move to do so.

Lee entered with a pile of clothes, handing Percy a pair of dark blue sweats and a slightly torn up shirt that had a picture of,  _ ha how fitting,  _ a sunflower on it. The brother then moved, undressing Will with ease, the younger trusting his sibling fully. Lee put Will in an oversized shirt that advertised a surf competition and left him in his boxer shorts, explaining to Percy in whispers that Will didn’t like having his legs restrained by sweats at night.

When they were done getting Will ready for bed, they moved the freckled boy under the sheets, though it again caused the half asleep blond to complain about being independent.

Lee rolled his eyes affectionately and bent down, kissing Will lightly on his brow, “Goodnight and sweet dreams my wonderful sunflower.”

Will responded sleepily, “I will see you in the morning and wish you a good day  mon chou.”

Percy raised his eyebrows and turned to Lee questioningly. 

“We used to say that to each other every day. Mon chou means my cabbage in French, though they translate it to sweetie. He sucks with any type of language, but adores calling me that for some reason.”

Percy smiled and said good night to Lee, climbing into bed next to a now sleeping Will and watching as Lee turned off the lights and closed the door.

As Will turned and nuzzled himself into Percy’s side, Percy wondered lightly what tomorrow could possibly bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure why, but I love Lee being all sweet and brotherly, and then Michael is gonna be a little different when we meet him.
> 
> When Will calls Lee "mon chou" he is calling him my cabbage and not sweetie, just fyi.
> 
> Next chapter hopefully by Tuesday, but I can't guarantee anything.
> 
> Anyways, comments and kudos are very greatly appreciated :)


	7. Wil and Lee, Nico and Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeeyyyyy everyone, so sorry about the especially long waiting time, I think I'll start posting on Sundays and Saturdays only, just to keep it less stressful.
> 
> This is a pretty mellow chapter, not much happens really, but the next few chapters will not be the same
> 
> Enjoy :)

Will woke up slowly. It was weird, becoming aware of his senses one by one until they had all returned to him.

First, smelling pancakes.

Then, the sound of low humming and trickling water.

Felt something warm pressed against him from behind.

_ Weird _ .

Although, maybe even weirder, he found himself waking up with Percy behind him, an arm draped over Will’s waist, spooning him.

_ Ok, even weirder _ .

Will tried to wiggle himself out of Percy’s (surprisingly strong, or maybe Will was just weak) grip.

The second he moved Percy tightened his grip, grumbling into Will’s hair.

Well alright then.

Will stayed still for a few moments, thinking over his options.

Of course he chose possibly the cruelest.

Will slowly moved his arm out and away from the tangle of limbs, than brought it swiftly down, aiming for Percy’s exposed side.

A nice way to wake up.

Except…

“Oh  _ fuck me _ !” Will exclaimed when his elbow missed its mark and connected with his own hip instead.

Ignoring the painful throbbing in his hip, Will rolled around to face Percy properly. Getting a good look at his, frankly adorable, sleeping face, the small line of drool ever present.

Ok Will was not gonna get stuck on that right now.

He carefully maneuvered his arms down, down until  _ ha right there _ . Then, with feather light fingers, he danced across the exposed skin.

It took a second, but suddenly Percy was half awake, batting at Will’s hands and muttering about immature jack asses, before turning away from Will and falling back asleep.

Well, tickling wasn’t as bad as an elbow to the ribs, so Percy really shouldn’t be complaining.

Will took a minute to get the motivation to get himself up and out of the warm and comfy bed, but when he did, he wasn’t surprised to find himself in one of Lee’s shirts.

What a good big brother.

Will walked somewhat blindly down out to the kitchen/dining room/living room area where Lee was sitting cross legged on the couch, eating pancakes and looking at something on his laptop.

When he saw Will walking out, he set it all aside and hugged Will tightly.

Will hugged back tighter.

It was a strange sort of serene that Will felt in that moment. This was his  _ brother _ . His brother that he hadn’t seen in over two years. His brother that he had only met in person a couple of times. And yet Will felt safer in his arms then he had in the past two days.

Man, feelings are weird.

Lee pulled away and smiled gently at Will, “Ready to talk?”

Will hummed, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Lee grinned and pulled Will into the kitchenette, urging Will to sit at the table while he grabbed them drinks.

He sat down across from Will harboring a cup for steaming coffee in one hand and handing Will the juice box that was in his other hand.

Wow.

Was this supposed to be a hint that he was being too childish?

_ Nah, Lee’s not that mean _ .

But whatever, Will wasn’t complaining.

Frankly, he loved juice boxes, especially the cool weird flavors.

Like…

“Oh sweet Apple Pomegranate!” Will exclaimed, holding his juice box up excitedly for Lee to see. Lee chuckled in response but stayed quiet, Will turned the juice box in his hand so he could see the front.

“Wow! Is that Michelangelo? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?”

“Yep, just for you.”

Will couldn’t help but beam at him while sucking on the straw. Lee placed one elbow on the table, resting his chin atop his hand.

Will knew that look.

“Explain, seedling.”

  
  
  


Nico was awake and ready to go by five in the morning. Well, he was ready to go at five in the morning, not necessarily awake because he had never gone to sleep.

It was unnerving.

He had laid in bed for hours, waiting for sleep to come to him but it never had. It refused to even touch the outskirts of his mind.

Instead, Nico had been left to think and contemplate and  _ think _ .

It had been horrible.

And now he was wide awake, buzzing with energy that he didn’t even know he possessed, fully packed and anxious to just get on the road.

Honestly, why couldn’t time just move a little faster.

Nico thought back to his conversation with Will the day before, remembering the relief that had flooded his system the second he heard Will’s voice.

God Will was crazy.

So was Percy, for going along with it.

What were those two thinking?

No seriously  _ what were those two thinking _ .

Someone help Nico understand them.

Nico understood, sort of, that Will felt the need to go somewhere, do something that would make him feel in control and not like his life was being controlled by someone else. 

But Nico did not understand why Will had chosen to abduct Percy and not let anyone else know about it.

Nico didn’t know if he was more jealous of Percy; for having had Will choose him for this grand adventure or Will; for having had Percy agree blindly and without hesitation.

He should probably try to sort out those feelings.

Hmm, maybe not.

Nico was startled when his phone began ringing, a picture of Jason putting his glasses on Will, both mid laugh, popped up on his screen. It was another one of Nico’s favorite pictures.

He hurried to answer it.

“Hello? Jason?”

“Hey Nico.”

“What’s up? Is something wrong?”

“Hm what? No! Nothing’s wrong I just, well I’m ready to go and was wondering if you were too.”

Nico was taken aback for second. Jason was just as worried as Nico was, of course, but Nico expected him to be more levelheaded about this. That included  _ not _ pulling an all nighter because he was too nervous to sleep.

“Yeah I’m fully packed, do you wanna leave now?”

Jason let out an audible breath of relief, “God yes. Nico I’m worried. Why am I so worried?”

“Because our idiotic best friends decided to run away and neither of us know for sure if their mental states are fully intact and we don’t know really where we’re going or who we’re going to.”

“Nico you’re supposed to reassure me not freak me out more.”

“Reality is a bitch Jason, and this bitch just slept with your wife and stole your casserole dish.”

It was quiet for a minute.

“Don’t touch my casserole dish di Angelo.”

“Don’t give me a reason to Grace.”

“I’ll be outside your house in four minutes exactly be ready.”

Thy hung up and Nico stood, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and scrawling a quick not on a scrap piece of paper explaining to Cecil and Hazel where he was, how to get a hold of him, and leaving Will’s number if he didn’t pick up. He slid it under Cecil’s door then walked silently back to his room, opening his window and slipping out, climbing down the pipe with ease and walking to the side walk.

Not even a second after Nico’s foot hit the sidewalk, Jason was pulling up.

“Get in loser, we’re going shopping.”

Nico grinned and jumped in.

  
  
  


Percy woke up to his phone ringing. His first thought was, naturally,  _ oh shit the government’s found me _ , because as everyone knew, Percy was a wanted criminal.

His second thought was that it was Nico or Jason, calling to let him know that they were getting on the road, so he reluctantly rolled over and answered with a well mannered,”What do you want I’m sleeping.”

“Perseus Jackson is that anyway to talk to your wonderful mom?”

Percy shot up straight in bed, “oH NO! Mom I’m so sorry I thought you were Nico.”

Sally huffed over the phone, “Is that anyway to talk to your friend either?”

“No.” Percy trailed off, knowing full well that his voice was dripping with shame and guilt.

“Where are you? I didn’t get any phone call from you, no text, just a call from the school telling me you hadn’t shown up.”

Percy winced and braced himself, “I’m in Santa Barbara.”

His mother didn’t make a sound.

“Will was upset and wanted to see his brother, I offered to accompany him. It was sort of an impulsive thing but it’s ok because I’m perfectly safe, I swear.”

Sally was quiet again and then, “Is Will ok? Does he need anything from me?”

Percy let out a relieved laugh, “Yeah Mom, Will is fine. Well as fine as he can be in his situation.”

“Ok, well make sure he knows that he always has our house to harbor out in if things at home are  _ rough _ .”

“Will do, I’ll call you back and explain everything better, but I don’t even know the full story yet.”

“Thank you Percy. I love you, and make sure Will knows I love him too. And don’t think that you’re not in trouble for this mister.”

“Yeah yeah will do, love you too. Bye.”

Percy hung up and flopped backwards onto the bed, thinking idly about whether or not he could get away with writing something up there without anyone noticing.

Probably not.

He sighed and sat up again, getting himself out of the warm bed and forcing himself to walk out of the room and to where Will and Lee were.

When he saw them, Will had his head tipped back in laughter and Lee had his chin tucked in, giggling into his own chest.

In that moment, they looked young, they looked like siblings.

Percy loved it.

There was a stack of steaming pancakes sitting between them, completely going to waste.

Percy made an indignant noise in the back of his mouth, drawing Will’s attention to him. Will raised an eyebrow at him- Percy couldn’t raise a single eyebrow but he had been trying to pester Will into teaching him how to- and followed Percy’s gaze to the pancakes. He looked back at Percy with an amused look, sighing good naturedly and gesturing to the pancakes, giving Percy his silent go ahead.

Percy let out a very manly squeal and rushed forward to eat the pancakes, sitting in the vacant chair between the brothers.

“So Percy, how’d you sleep?” Lee asked after taking a long sip of his coffee.

Percy tried to reply with ‘I slept great thanks’ though it came out sounding like nonsense, food flying out of his mouth.

Will snorted, “Lovely Perce.”

“Oh shut it dork.”

“Make me Alfie.”

“Are you aware of how much sexual tension that statement adds to a situation?”

“Are you aware that was the first time I’ve ever heard you utter a word with more than three syllables.”

Percy paused, thinking over his sentence and counting the syllables on his fingers. He then turned to glower at Will, “I’ll have you know that I can talk smartly when I want too.”

Will’s expression turned sympathetic. “Oh Alfie…”

Percy studied him for a second, trying to think of what he said this time.

Oh…

Percy wailed and dropped his head to the table, muttering a weak, “I give up.”

Lee patted his back though Percy could hear him chuckling softly. Then Lee was getting up and saying something in a rush to Will about classes and rules and the beach.

Percy didn’t quite understand what he was saying, though Will seemed to get it just fine, nodding along and at one point making a disgusted face.

What?

Next thing he knew, Lee was at the door, a bag slung over his shoulder and a book clutched in one hand. He opened the door, then hesitated before stepping out.

“By the way, Michael and Kayla are coming by this afternoon.”

Will sat up ramrod straight, “Why? How do they even now I’m here?”

“I may or may not have texted them.”

Will chucked a pencil at Lee, hitting the door a split second after he closed it, shouting a ‘bye sunflower’ behind him

Percy looked at Will, “Michael and Kaia?”

“Kayla dumbass, they’re two of my other siblings.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

“Enough.”

“How many is enough?”

“Much.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“That’s the point.”

Percy rolled his eyes but didn’t bother keeping the conversation continue, letting the topic drop. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Will drinking his juice box and looking lost in thought, Percy devouring the pancakes.

Percy couldn’t help but wonder how it would feel to spend every morning like this. With Will. Just basking in each other’s company. 

Maybe a few kisses here and there too.

_ No. Bad Percy! Bad thoughts! _

He couldn’t start thinking like that, not about Will at least. The blonde wasn’t interested. Well, he wasn’t interested as far was Percy knew.

There was a ding and Will’s head snapped around to face Percy, a surprised and confused expression on his face.

“How’d you do that?”

Percy was about to answer, opening his mouth to reply, when another ding sounded through the apartment.

Will’s jaw dropped and he stared at Percy in awe, “That is the coolest thing ever.”

Percy couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “I didn’t do that. That was one of our phones. Seriously you guys call me the dumb one.”

Will looked offended, but apparently  chose not to pick a fight, instead getting up and retrieving his phone.

“Oh! It’s from Nico, he says they’re on there way and should be here in about two hours.” Will looked up from his phone and beamed at him. Percy felt himself grinning back, unable to resist his contagious smile.

Will’s phone let out another ding and he looked at it again, smile still present. But it promptly crumbled when he looked at his phone. Percy felt concern and panic welling up inside of him, “Will? What’s wrong?”

“My brother Michael says him and Kayla will be here in two hours.”

Percy rose and stood beside Will, wrapping a cautious arm around him.

“Looks like it’s a waiting game.”

Will looked slightly sick though why, Percy had no idea.

“Yeah, looks like it’s just a waiting game.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone liked it!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated :)


	8. Chopped and two family reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey~ everyone
> 
> So good news, i'm not dead!!! yay!!!
> 
> I completely lost inspiration for this but I'm gonna continue now that've sorta found my rhythm again and hope that i don't fuck it up
> 
> thank you to everyone that continued to comment and kudos while i was MIA, it means a lot to me
> 
> ANYWAY enjoy this pretty shitty chapter (I'll get better, I promise)

Percy was at a loss

A complete loss.

Will Solace, optimist extraordinaire and pro at cheering people up, was leaning against him in an unmovable state of _sad._

As in Percy had tried basically everything, but the biggest reaction he had gotten was a huff of breath that could be counted as a laugh, if you were being technical.

Will seemed to be brewing in his own thoughts next to Percy, and Percy knew from experience that that was not a fun or pretty road to go down, so Percy knew he had to do something.

But  _what?_

Percy drummed his fingers against his thighs and thought for a second before shifting so that his wallet was in his hand. He waved it in front of the blond's face to get his attention. Once Will's attention was thoroughly fixed on the object, he put on an exaggerated smile and tossed the wallet to the other side of the room.

"Fetch."

Will slowly turned to look at Percy with a completely unimpressed look. "The fuck was that Jackson?"

Oops.

So maybe not exactly what he had been hoping for.

"I don't know Will! I was hoping that it would cheer you up or something!"

"So treating me like a dog is gonna cheer me up? Great plan Einstein."

Percy opted not to answer and instead maturely stuck his tongue out, which Will replied with a half hearted middle finger.

They lapsed into silence once again and Percy fought the urge to groan.

"Ok I have a great, amazing, A plus idea"

"Which is..."

"Hold on."

Percy shot up from the couch, nearly knocking Will to the ground, and happily stumbled to the kitchen where Lee's computer was charging. He returned to Will with the device tucked under his arm and, once he was situated comfortably on the couch, gestured to Will to open it.

Will gave him a skeptical look but opened up the computer, getting on to Lee's account on the first try. The freckled boy looked slightly sheepish as he handed the computer back to Percy, "He has a few passwords that he sets for everything."

Percy wanted to comment on the sheer stupidity but stopped himself because he had one password for everything. And that one password happened to be his name and birthday.

He didn't feel like being a hypocrite.

So instead he busied himself with searching and setting up his idea.

Probably his best idea he had ever had.

Once everything was ready on the screen he tugged Will closer and wrapped a protective arm around him, getting them comfortable on the worn couch.

Percy didn't even think about the possible friendship boundaries he was probably blowing past because all that mattered was Will.

"Prepare to have your mind blown"

~

They got through two episodes of  _Chopped_ before Will all but leapt from the couch and claimed that he could beat any of the chefs any given day.

So naturally the pair had to go and take residence in the kitchen so that Will could attempt to replicate the challenges and Percy could be his taste test guinea pig.

Percy took up residence sitting on the counter beside the fridge with the laptop balanced on his legs, calling out the time to Will and enjoying the way Will would get angry when he added or took away time.

" _Shut the fuck up Alfie, last time you said the time I had 20 and now suddenly I have 3?"_

Will rushed around the kitchen in a whirl, substituting quail eggs for normal eggs, fresh baby tomatoes for cocktail cherries, and thyme for the week old cilantro that was hidden behind Lee's health drinks.

In the end, the meal that Will made nearly made Percy throw up, but the pair was able to laugh it off only after Will had called Percy an unappreciated dickwad and chucked the remaining cilantro at him.

The distraction worked so well that even Percy was unprepared for the knocking that echoed through Lee's apartment after they had just settled down to watch E.T.

Will visibly steeled himself and stood up, taking a few stiff steps to reach the door. Percy watched with unmasked anticipation as Will opened the door only to be greeted with  _familiar_ voices.

"God damn it Jason I told you this was the wrong address-"

It's the right address, it's the one that Will sent, I swear."

"-and now we've just knocked on a complete strangers door and they're gonna call the cops on us-"

"Nico."

"-and then I'm going to go to jail for trespassing and make a living off of carving things out of old dice-"

"Nico."

"-I can't survive in jail Jason! I'm not ready to be a criminal!"

"Nico for the love of god look!"

The next second Will was all but flying backwards from the force of Nico careening into him. The two fell in a heap on the ground where they stayed as Nico shouted insults and pet names at Will in a mix of English and Italian.

Jason stepped in behind them and closed the door, walking to Percy and sitting next to him, pulling him into a comforting side hug.

"Was he like that for the entire drive?" Percy asked.

Jason chuckled and nuzzled his cheek against the top of Percy's head, "Worse. He kept on starting conversations with me in Italian and getting mad when I couldn't understand him. He also insulted both of you every two minutes."

Percy sighed contently and leaned into Jason's embrace, "Lovely."

"I guess you can call it lovely. That wouldn't be the word I used though."

A cry followed by hysterical laughter drew their attention to Will and Nico, still bundled together on the floor, though Will was now laughing like a maniac and trying to army crawl away from Nico who was also laughing and choking out insults why clutching on to Will's legs.

"Percy! Jason! Help me! The wild Nico got me!"

Nico cackled louder and started to climb Will's body horizontally until he could nestle his head in the back of Will's neck.

It was times like these that Percy's feelings came rushing to the surface. On one hand he wanted to be Will, to have Nico climbing him like a monkey, to have Nico actively seeking out physical contact and affection. On the other hand he would do anything to be Nico, to have Will let him get so close and personal without complaint or any bantering needed. And then on the other scary monster hand, Percy was completely fine with where he was now, cuddling with Jason while watching the other two be adorable dorks.

Stupid feelings were confusing

~

Jason felt a weird mixture of contentment, resentment, and restlessness.

He knew something was going to happen, he could feel it in his core that something was about to happen, and he didn't  _want_ something to happen! He had just gotten his boys back!

They were dog piled on the couch with Nico and Will in the middle and Percy and Jason flanking them on either side. Nico and Jason had been at Lee's house for a little under fifteen minutes and both had been "debriefed" on the entire situation, including Will's eccentric and protective siblings that were gonna show up at any minute now.

God poor Will. Jason knew first hand what it was like to have an absent mother and father, but at least Jason had had Thalia for his entire life. And much like Will's mom, Jason's mom had managed to clean up her act. But that was shortly before she died of alcohol poisoning.

He wished that there was a way to cuddle the pain away.

Like maybe if he showered all of them with so much affection and held them tightly enough and  _never let them face the cold cruel world_ everything would be ok.

But alas.

Jason was not allowed to live in hiss fantasies according to the universe.

Because suddenly they were being startled out of their haven by loud knocking and shouts.

Will groaned and sat up, giving them all apologetic looks before going to the door and opening it wth as much gusto as he could manage.

"Hey fam, long time no see!"

Then three people were barreling into the room. The first being a tall, dark haired boy wearing a flannel. He was both lanky and muscular with sharpe features and kind, brown eyes. Behind him was a short girl with wavy hair cut to her chin that was dyed a dark green half way down. She was wearing an oversized army jacket and chewing on bubblegum with an unimpressed look on her face. The last person to come in was a bit taller than Will with neat dreads and darker skin. He wore a nice white shirt underneath and open button up that's sleeves were rolled to his elbows.

Jason was thoroughly overwhelmed.

"Spill noodle brain, why have you been ignoring us!" Short girl said, stomping her foot to emphasize her point.

"Yeah! What's been with you dodging all my texts and snapchats! You lost our streak!" Dread head said, scowling down at Will.

Will laughed nervously, rubbing at his neck nervously, "Well you see the thing is... uh...Y'know Austin, Lee didn't mention you were coming too."

"Don't change the subject, pea brain."

He trailed off, clearly at a loss for what to say, so instead he spread his arms wide, and his siblings  _dove_ at him, knocking him to the ground for the second time that day.

"Hey awkward kids sitting on the couch, come help us smoosh Will in retaliation for being a little prick. " Bubblegum girl shouted at them, the other two siblings chiming in enthusiastically.

Percy shrugged and stood up, belly flopping on top of them and earning a groan from everyone underneath him and a special, "Fuck you Percy" from Will.

Nico followed Percy, plopping himself down on tall kid's back and bouncing once just to annoy Will.

Jason followed the other two more hesitantly,slowly lowering himself down so he was sitting half on Percy and half on Dreads.

"Ugh I hate all of you."

"No you don't. Now you're gonna come clean to all of us and fucking  _let us help you_." Tall brother said.

"Yes I agree completely." Nico nodded and bounced again to elicit a pained groan from Will.

By god they were weird.

But maybe weird was exactly what they all needed.

Jason couldn't shake that feeling in his core that  _something_ was going to happen.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed!!!!
> 
> Like always, comments and kudos are very greatly appreciated and read with lots of love :))))

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it
> 
> I think I'll be updating soon, I have the next few chapters planned so please stay posted for them!
> 
> Thanks for reading, comments and kudos are always nice to receive :)


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